The King has severed the Duke of York’s “£1 million-a-year” allowance in recent weeks, it has emerged.
In an updated biography about the monarch, author Robert Hardman revealed that King Charles has instructed his Keeper of the Privy Purse to “sever” his brother’s living allowance.
The new chapters of Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, serialised by the Daily Mail, includes a palace insider confirming that “the Duke is no longer a financial burden on the King”.
The news comes amid ongoing wrangling between the monarch and his disgraced younger brother about his living situation in the 30-bedroom Royal Lodge home in Windsor Great Park.
The King, who was said to be losing patience with Prince Andrew in the early summer, was previously understood to have threatened to withdraw the funding that allows Andrew to keep living in the house, which has extensive upkeep requirements.
The Duke’s annual allowance – believed to be upwards of £1 million – has reportedly now been cut by the monarch, as have all payments towards his seven-figure private security detail.
Hardman writes: “In the late summer of this year, that patience ran out. The Duke informed the monarch that, regardless of any ultimatum, he was going to stay put at Royal Lodge.
“At which point, the Keeper of the Privy Purse (the monarchy’s finance director) was instructed to sever his living allowance.”
A source quoted as familiar with the recent financial wrangling between the brothers said that Prince Andrew claims to have found “other sources of income related to his contacts in international trade”.
This income is reportedly “sufficient to cover all his costs”, including the small fortune needed to maintain security as well as the stringent and expensive upkeep of the home as per Andrew’s lease requirements.
One of the terms of the Duke’s 75-year lease agreement with the Crown Estate, which was signed in 2003 and runs out in 2079, could see him forced to repaint his Windsor home “with two coats of paint” every five years, for example.
According to Hardman, costs also include protecting several valuable and historical works of art and furniture in the home that are borrowed from the Royal Collection.
An insider said: “If he can find the money, then that is up to him, but if not, he will find that the King does not have unlimited patience.”
Family friends of the monarch, 75, have also been reported as saying the Duke’s “obstinacy” about this issue has “soured” family relations.
Hardman also revealed that the late Queen even wanted to find her beloved son Andrew another home.
A former adviser to Elizabeth II is quoted in the new chapters saying: “Had she lived another year, he would have been out.
“It was her plan to move him out, to end the lease for the Sussexes at Frogmore Cottage and to move Andrew in there. It was mainly a money thing, as she could see it was becoming unsustainable.”
The King also reportedly told his brother, who was forced to step down as a working royal over his association with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, to vacate the property and downsize to nearby Frogmore, which was the home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex until 2023.
The Telegraph previously reported that the Duke of York intends to honour the terms of the Royal Lodge lease he signed in 2003, which has 55 more years to run.
Buckingham Palace has declined to comment.
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