Prince Andrew is having a ‘nice time’ in Norfolk and has an energetic social life

Shock, Prince Andrew is having a good time. He doesn’t dwell in shame, ignored and alone in a cabin in Norfolk. He lives in a very renovated cottage on the Sandringham property, and he has personal safety and a full home workers, all paid for by his brother. King Charles additionally offers Andrew £1 million a 12 months as “remuneration”. It seems that when Andrew lastly agreed to depart Royal Lodge earlier this 12 months, it was solely as a result of Charles lastly agreed to quietly purchase him out of his lease as effectively. So, Andrew has hundreds of thousands within the financial institution, his whole lavish way of life is financed by the king, and Andrew is all the time welcome in elite circles. All of that is the main target of a brand new Occasions article, which Tom Sykes wrote about on his Substack:

The previous Prince Andrew is having a “very nice time” in Norfolk, the place he hangs out with “mates”, visits associates, excursions and customarily enjoys the pleasures of the social lifetime of an Edwardian gentleman, all financed by a beneficiant annual allowance of greater than £1 million from the king’s personal pocket, though his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, aka “the pink setter”, has fallen from grace and been banned from visiting him, in keeping with a collection of reviews in British newspapers Wednesday morning.

The portrait of Andrew’s Norfolk romance comes from Kate Mansey, deputy editor of The Occasions. For months, she writes, the hypothesis was that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was spending his days in distress in entrance of the tv and flight monitoring apps, after being ordered to depart the palatial Royal Lodge and go to the far more modest Marsh Farm on the Sandringham property. However at this time, those that know his way of life say it is far more joyful than that. “He’s having a good time, thanks very a lot,” a well-placed supply instructed him. He leaves. He goes capturing with associates. The “outdated guard”, because the newspaper places it, has rallied behind him and may be very loyal to him. He now not sits, we study, feeling sorry for himself.

There aren’t any journey restrictions on him whereas he’s beneath police investigation, Mansey reviews, however those that know him say he has not been overseas, nor has he loved the hospitality beforehand provided by rich overseas associates. Why would he do it? Norfolk is beautiful at the moment of 12 months.

The one one that wasn’t invited was Sarah Ferguson, who continued to dwell with Andrew lengthy after their divorce in 1996 and has now returned to the UK, the place she retains a low profile. A supply instructed The Occasions that “the pink setter,” as he’s apparently referred to as, is persona non grata at Marsh Farm. What she did to be exiled is unclear, though the newspaper notes that paperwork launched in the USA seem to indicate that it was Ferguson who launched Andrew to Jeffrey Epstein.

All of this has sparked renewed curiosity in a easy query: How does Andrew finance his life? The reply was casually slipped right into a Occasions article this week, virtually as an afterthought. Andrew is “heard” (code for “the press workplace instructed us”) to obtain greater than £1 million a 12 months from the king’s personal funds, sufficient to pay for 24-hour safety, a valet, a chef and no matter else he needs in his private life. He doesn’t want to hunt the king’s approval for the way he spends his cash. Mansey’s article at this time describes a beneficiant ongoing stipend protecting his safety providers, his different staff and the way he chooses to spend his appreciable leisure hours. Remember the fact that, as a present from one royal sibling to a different, it’s probably tax-exempt. And take into account the wording: past. 1,000,000 kilos is the ground, not the ceiling. For all we all know, it could possibly be two.

There may be, we’re instructed, just one situation to be fulfilled. Andrew can spend the allowance as he sees match, the Occasions reviews, so long as it is not his ultimate authorized battle. However as anticipated, there is no strategy to implement this modest situation, cash being fungible and all.

[From The Royalist Substack]

I all the time thought Andrew lived like that? I by no means believed the story that he was depressed or licking his wounds or that he felt like he was residing in shame. From the second he arrived in Norfolk, it was clear that Andrew and King Charles had reached a tacit settlement over who paid what and the way a lot. The palace has pushed the story, all this time, that Andrew is besieged or distraught and it has all the time been a PR fiction to justify Charles dealing with Andrew gently and generously. And as all the time, evaluate this with how Charles treats his youngest son.

Images courtesy of Avalon Pink, Backgrid, Cowl Photos.