King Charles laying off estate’s 10-member security team, U.K. Sun reports
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The palace intrigue continues within the royal family.
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King Charles seems to be winding up to give his brother, Prince Andrew, the boot from his Royal Lodge home in Windsor, England, according to the U.K. Sun, by laying off the estate’s 10-member security team.
Charles told the detail “they are no longer needed from the autumn,” according to the U.K. Sun.
The news came as Charles and Andrew, on his summer getaway, met over the weekend at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, ahead of an extended gathering of the royal family.
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The dispute has been ramping up since Andrew’s security detail, which reportedly cost about $5 million per year, was removed in 2022 amid his sexual abuse case in the U.S. involving a former sex slave of the late Jeffrey Epstein.
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The King, meanwhile, has been footing the bill for Andrew’s private guards at the 31-room Royal Lodge, according to the U.K. Sun.
“Everyone is speculating this means the duke will have to leave the Royal Lodge because what other reason could there be to take his security away?” an insider told the U.K. Sun, in reference to Andrew’s living situation.
“They are all working the final weeks of their contract till the end of October. It’s not thought anyone is being lined up to replace them.
“It isn’t a secret that the King wants him out.”
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British media has dubbed the scuffle between the siblings as the “Siege of Royal Lodge” with the King warning his brother that life could soon become “increasingly cold and uncomfortable,” the U.K. Sun reported.
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That could include cutting Andrew off from a stipend of about $7 million per year, the newspaper reported.
Andrew has been resisting the move with insiders telling the U.K. Sun that he has a “cast-iron” 75-year lease at Royal Lodge, which he currently shares with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and where he has lived for the last 20 years.
The U.K. Sun reported earlier this year that he had even rejected an offer to stay at Frogmore Cottage, the former home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Despite the spat and removal from public duties, palace sources told the U.K. Sun that Andrew “remains the King’s brother” and is welcome at family events. He was stripped of his titles in 2022 by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, after being sued for sexual assault by former Epstein sex slave Virginia Giuffre.
Andrew settled the lawsuit out of court, but maintains he did nothing wrong.
As for the future of Royal Lodge, the family is seeking to find non-royal tenants if they can force Andrew out, the U.K. Sun reported.
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