Do you think Prince Andrew should be made to leave Royal Lodge?

[Houseplanter]

Another (trashy) article in the press today saying Andrew needs to downsize out of Royal Lodge and make way for Wills & co.

Apparently he doesn't have the fund for its upkeep, it's falling in to disrepair.

W & C obviously could make better use of it.

He's been there 30 years so I can understand he doesn't want to move out of essentially his family home. My own view is he should be in deepest darkest nowhere, but wondered what others thought.

Is there any reason at all to leave him be?

@Serenster that is totally different. You are talking about lobbying around how professionals are regulated. You are right, different bodies lobby for professionals to be more or less regulated in their work.
The Royal Family are unique in being explicitly exempt from many laws such as equality act, environmental laws, and housing laws.

Seems to be second son syndrome. The heir gets trained from birth in how to behave as a monarch and (sometimes) manages to pick up some sort of a sense of responsibility. The second son has no real function and doesn't get the same discipline, ending up a useless spoilt brat. The real trouble comes when the heir dies before taking over the throne childless and the second son is wheeled in. As happened with Henry VIII.

@TheFirmBiscuit The members of the mafia have considerably more family loyalty than the families of William the Conqueror, Harold Godwinson or the House of Anjou.

Wow he really is a dickhead.

It's not always the case. George VI behaved pretty well when he became king, despite never expecting to have to become monarch.

Yes agreed and personalities will always be a factor. Edward VIII was a flamboyant spoilt extrovert and George VI was much more introverted, and neglected by parents due to this. Things seem to have been the other way round with Charles and Andrew.

I think for their own sakes, the working monarchy needs to be Monarch and heir, with far fewer hangers on and houses, etc. The rest of them, from Charlottes age need to be told they'll get a house and they will turn up to family events like Zara etc do now, but they need to get a job and pay their own way. Hanging round waiting for handouts forever from.their dad/brother etc all their lives is not a great way to live. I had an extra credit on my audible so I used it on Spare. He was saying that he was characterised in the press as ' the naughty one' and it carried on to his teens. Already Louis is ' the naughty one' No matter how they say they will ' modernise', they won't, because they want to keep their positions, and to do that, they need the press.

I say it a lot I know but I think they missed a golden opportunity to wind the whole thing up with dignity when TLQ died and I think that's even more the case now C and W have serious personal issues to contend with.

Even without those we'd be left with the current unedifying mess of back-biting, rival courts, endless press leaks and desperate PR puff.

Remarkable how quickly the wheels have come off 😮

I agree that the wider royal family need to be prepared to earn their own living. Apart from anything else it must be miserable having no sense of purpose in your life.

That said, they must be brought up and educated with that in mind so they are equipped with the skills they need not just chucked to the wolves at age 18. Plus the press need to back off and leave them to it, not constantly examine and criticise how they choose to earn a crust. If it's legal it's no one's business what they choose to do.

It doesn't matter what I think. It's the monarchy, they can do what they like. I don't get to vote for an alternative.

That said, they must be brought up and educated with that in mind so they are equipped with the skills they need not just chucked to the wolves at age 18

Yes, I agree. I think Charles should have put this in place as a rule ( as he apparently wanted) immediately. The Wales kids are getting older. They need to have an expectation that they will have to get jobs and be private citizens. They will hardly be working in Tescos, but even non jobs like Bea and Eugenie would be better than spending their lives hand shaking pointlessly. They would hardly be different from any other aristo, but they would be self-supporting and have their own career paths that they have some semblance of a choice in.

Yes I think he should get out of Royal Lodge but he won't because he's an entitled prick. I think I read somewhere that Fergie has already got a property in town to move into when they do eventually get kicked out. As for W & C moving in there... can't see it happening, they already have two large homes in Norfolk and Kensington, plus I presume an option on moving into Windsor Castle at some point. I can't see it going down well at all with the public if they took RL. The best thing that could be done with RL is to renovate it and open it to visitors/conferences/functions to pay off the reno costs. If I had my way that's what would happen to most of these Royal properties 🤷🏻‍♀️

Andrew has a lease.
Harry had a lease but Charles still managed to kick him out.

Agree. Lady Louise might turn out to be an interesting prototype as she managed to work quietly in a garden centre between A levels and uni. Obviously Charlotte and Louis have higher profiles and more security needs but it would be interesting to see if Edward and Sophie's children can make a move to a more "normal" life.

He went to live in California.

Harry had a lease but Charles still managed to kick him out.

Harold didn't want or need the place once he'd flounced. He did however negotiate a magnificent cancellation of his rental obligations which probably eased the sting of leaving a little.

Harry wanted to keep the lease, it was cancelled. They can do the same for Andrew.

It depends on the terms of the lease.

PA has the same rights in law as the rest of us. The late Queen clearly had a rock-solid contract drawn up to ensure her son was provided with a home.

The Crown cannot breach a contract simply because it wants to. If the terms are in his favour, then PA would take them to court and win.

He literally moved countries I should imagine there is a clause about that

But what if harry gave up his lease? We don't know that he didn't they are economical with the truth and the RF say nothing

Harry could well have given it up. He paid rent upfront…for how long I don’t. He could have asked for lots back.

House leases do not normally say if you move country, you have to forfeit your lease. Why would such an unusual clause be added unless Harry was already talking about leaving the UK?

Mine has a clause that if it's no longer my main residence or it im out of the country for longer than two months I forfeit my tenancy (it is social housing) so I know these clauses exist

Harry probably just gave it up

Because a lease for a Crown Estate property used as a grace and favour residence will be substantially different from a lease you or I would sign?

I'm not convinced he ever paid a penny in rent.

All that's ever been reported is a payment of £2.4m to cover the taxpayer funded refurb and that was only made in the face of mounting public disquiet. We were later quietly drip-fed that that amount was held to have included eighteen months rent and further drip-fed that it had also been deemed to release him from any further rental obligations thus saving him getting on for £700k.

Quite a remarkable financial sleight of hand.

he absolutely should move out. he and his ex wife have no need for a 30 room mansion. stick him elsewhere on the Windsor estate ( so no problem with security) and keep him out of sight.