Sean Mandell
King Charles has officially cut off his brother Prince Andrew’s estimated $1.3 million a year allowance, according to a biography of the new king.
In an updated version of his book, “Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story,” author Robert Hardman claims the King’s relationship with his younger brother are at an all time low, owing to Charles’ tightening of the royal purse strings.
Charles has instructed the Keeper of the Privy Purse, essentially the finance director for the monarchy, to eliminate Prince Andrew’s estimated $1.3 million (£1 million) a year personal allowance and stop paying for his seven-figure private security, according to Hardman’s book, excerpted by the Daily Mail.
“The duke is no longer a financial burden on the King,” a source told the Daily Mail.
The turning of the financial screws follows Charles’ insistence that Andrew leave the 30-room estate at known as Royal Lodge in Windsor. Andrew has thus far balked, refusing to leave and move into Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s former UK home, Frogmore Cottage.
The house, which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent $2 million renovating after marrying in 2018, is significantly smaller than Royal Lodge, with only five bedrooms. Frogmore was also briefly the home of Andrew’s daughter, Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, who leased the home from Harry and Meghan before the royals were evicted by the King.
Well-placed sources also told Hardman that had Queen Elizabeth II lived another year, she would have forced Andrew to leave Royal Lodge and move to Frogmore. The monarch, who passed away in September 2022 at the age of 96, was often accused of being overly lenient on Andrew.
The prince was widely believed to be Queen Elizabeth’s favorite child (season 4 of “The Crown” even did an episode on the subject). But Her Majesty was keenly aware of what she called “the Andrew issue,” a turn of phrase she used to refer to the many scandals that dogged Andrew over the years, not least of which being his friendship with the late pedophile-billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
When reached for comment, Buckingham Palace told The Post they do not comment on books.
This is a developing story.
This post was originally posted by NYPost
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