I don't understand the fuss about Andrew's living arrangements

[Wookiefiend]

I think he's an odious man and the full force of the law should be thrown at him, but I don't understand why Royal Lodge is such an issue.

He doesn't get any taxpayer funding and has apparently paid £1m up front plus £7.5m in renovations required by the lease, so he's hardly living there rent free (as is often reported).

It's unfair that so much wealth sits with so few, and that they so often turn out to be awful, but as it stands he does have (inherited?) money and has paid to live in the house. Or is the going rate for such a property more than £8.5m rent?

It's the optics of it as much as anything.

He is seen to be living in the lap of luxury in a royal residence, despite having disgraced himself and no longer being a working royal. That doesn't seem very "appropriate" to people.

Added to that, he may have paid out a lot on renovations, but it isn't clear as to exactly where that money came from. He clearly didn't earn it. And he is currently paying no rent on a property owned by the crown estate. Surely you can see why people might think that is unjust?

I think the main point I'm making is that he was only ever able to live with because of the privilege that he was born into. And a lot of people believe that he should now forfeit that privilege because he has proved himself to be so utterly unworthy.

£8.5 million divided by 20 years is £425k a year. A house and grounds like that, so close to London would cost considerable more on the open market, although possibly not, 20 years ago. So the public see that he is getting a better deal than is reasonable.

However, the late Queen arranged it so that her son would always have a secure home, that he couldn't sell or cock-up in some other way. It provides a secure home for her grand daughters, should their marriages fail, and it reverts to the crown when Andrew dies or gives it up.

If the lease is legally valid, I don't think there is anything the crown estate can do, no matter how much fuss people make.

If the lease is valid then everyone should stop fussing about it. No, he’s not liked, but he’s lawfully present and society should just ignore him rather than constantly fussing and giving him attention.

I think it’s a pile- on, and also, we know that the King wants him out if Royal lodge. His lease was legally drawn up, however, and frankly, it’s nobody else’s business, much less the politicians who have seen fit to wade in - very much fiddling while Rome burns. Jenrick should be particularly ashamed of himself.

I agree totally.

Can't stand the loathsome creep, and it seems he has always been horrible and rude to people, he is now getting his just desserts as so many people revel in his downfall.

He should be justly punished for the things he has done wrong - but this isn't one of them.

He signed a lease in 2003 for 75 years - it's dues to expire in 2078.
A rent figure of £200,000 per annum has been quoted. That figure multiplied by 75 comes to £15,000,000. He has paid £8,500,000 for the upfront lease plus renovations. Is there any chance that he will pay the balance owed of £6,500,000 by 2078? No, so the taxpayer will be paying that.

He's not likely to live there for 75 years and by that calculation he's well ahead with the rent!

There was a complete pile on recently on a poster who admitted that she had not informed UC that she had moved house into her partner's dad's house with her 5 month old baby. She was panicking about being prosecuted for not declaring benefits she was not entitled to for 10 months. Talk about double standards.

I think a lot of people are wondering where he got the funds from in order to pay up front for those renovations. Remember that at that time he was best mates with Epstein.

I don't see any connection?

Well, he had a very wealthy mother who doted on him...No matter how good mates he was with Epstein why would an assumption that he paid for his housing make any sense?

To be honest given that a fair old chunk was paid up front then whilst it may rankle with people it appears it was not not the total free for all that people often think - lots of things about the royals are unfair and the guy is an odious twerp but I think focussing on this is barking up the wrong tree. The whole monarchy and how it’s funded and who is funded needs looking at

Presumably he inherited from his mother, one of the wealthiest people in the world. How do you go about making him forfeit that?

As far as I am aware Charles inherited the whole of Elizabeth's estate. Charles gave Andrew an allowance of £1m a year which has now ceased.

The biggest issue is the lack of transparency about where he gets his money given the profligacy of his lifestyle with no obvious income stream other than, probably, inherited wealth and possibly funding from the king. He's been involved in all sorts over the years and appears to be happy to do pretty much anything in order to make money for himself. His moral compass has been buried by his personal greed.

How do you know that? The Monarch's will was never published. I think it's highly unlikely she left nothing to her other DC.

I'm not saying that there is necessarily any legal way of booting him out - I don't know enough about the technicalities to be able to judge this.

I was responding to your initial post, in which you said you didn't understand what the fuss was about.

@Wookiefiend

The fact that Andrew is living in luxury while dodging the police and FBI is only one aspect of this scandal.
His mansion is just symbolic of the unearned unexplained privilege that Andrew and the Windsors represent

Elizabeth knew a decade ago about Epstein and Andrew , Charles knew , William knew. What did they do about it ? Nothing .

Now they trying the old smoke and mirrors tricks to make it look like they are shocked and angry when they are anything but .Why are they talking about ‘not using titles’ when they knew a decade ago ? Because the rest of us know now .

Maybe there will a select committee investigation , if we are lucky .
The whole Windsor scam needs investigated root and branch
I suspect they’ll throw Andrew and maybe even Elizabeth to the wolves . They will go all in on boosting William - claiming he’s somehow ‘different’

He needs shoving in a council flat in Tower Hamlets. With his teddies.

Neither do I! It’s an entirely media created saga. And to distract from all the others on Epsteins island

He is living in a 40 room house with his freeloading ex and I imagine in some luxury, when many people think a prison cell would be more appropriate. Regardless of the legalities that feels wrong.

@sashagabadon
It's very much a saga created by the RF. Who have enabled him for decades, turned a blind eye to his activities, refused to see what was in front of their faces until they could ignore it no longer. The scales have fallen from peoples' eyes now.
The Americans have their own issues with access to the Epstein files - that is up to their government to deal with. It looks as if Maxwell is hoping for a pardon from Donald Trump - what does that imply?

Nonsense .

That others are guilty does nothing to diminish Andrew’s behaviour

The Windsors have protected Andrew and we are paying for them all .

It all stinks .

The thing is, as he's already got the lease and paid a significant amount upfront, if he was to leave then legally he'd probably have to be refunded for the time he's already paid for. The lease would need to be bought back.

This would no doubt be presented in the media as "paying him off" and much would be made of it.

I can very much see why he hasn't been evicted given the above.

@sashagabadon
What do you think of his connections to Chinese spy masters? Or is that a made up media saga too?