Andrew, Sarah & a Royal Lodge question

[MoondustandFairies]

Following some of the news stories about Andrew relinquishing Titles & a more local news story saying that he & his ex wife will continue to live in the Royal Lodge makes me wonder how that can be funded. Can they be made to leave if they can't pay?

It has 7 - or 12? - bedrooms so I expect it requires a bit of mopping & dusting each week - so do A & S also employ staff to maintain the property.

Not sure how old they both are either, maybe close to retirement?? but how do they fund a lifestyle without being propped up by the RF. Which prob won't please William too.
Just my tuppence worth question wondering how non working ex Royals with no marketable skills will pay staff wages & buy groceries.

It will be 7 toff level bedrooms, meaning they include dressing rooms, bathrooms etc, plus any number of smaller rooms which a normal person would count as a bedroom.
There will likely be one or more corridors of staff bedrooms in the attic - there’s no way on earth the 7 includes those and no way the building isn’t designed to house live in staff.

That’ll be staff quarters as opposed to bedrooms used by A and S.

Because it isn't a 7 bedroom house is it?

It is just as inaccurate to say it is 7 beds. It is to make it more palatable for the plebs.

This is what people imagine when you say 7 bed.

And this is the reality.

It includes a chapel and offices.

How many bedrooms does it have? I don't know, I haven't been there to count for myself. Are you saying 30 bedrooms is accurate?

Most sources say 7 bedrooms, 30 rooms.

I suspect at some point someone read '30 rooms' as 30 bedrooms and quoted it. It was then repeated when it suited anyone's narrative.

As yes, 7 bedrooms probably doesn't include staff bedrooms. It is probably the number available to the tenant for his family and friends. And those bedrooms are probably larger than the standard double bedroom in a suburban semi. It still doesn't make '30 bedrooms' accurate.

It's not that big. It probably has servants' quarters and bedroom-sized ante-rooms or dressing rooms as well as bedrooms, and a nursery floor.

It is 30 rooms.

That does seem quite big.

Yes but the newspapers will show the photos that make it look enormous.
If you do a search on 7 bed houses for sale in somewhere like Wentworth, it will be much bigger than those.

Obviously it is big compared to average family homes, but not of stately home proportions.

The QM was pretty savvy - she put an estimated £70 million into a trust fund in 1994 which - if she lived 7 years would be tax free to the beneficiaries. Quite a gamble at 94 but it paid off although I think QEII paid her later debts
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/apr/03/queenmother.monarchy2

I mean to most ordinary people it is a pretty big building to live in, most ordinary people don't live in 30 roomed houses for free.

As I said it might only be 30 rooms but big enough for Sarah to have her own wing, and there's a chapel and various cottages on the 90 acres.

This is correct. I've lived in a 7 bedroom Georgian house, which included the staff bedrooms in the 3rd/attic floor. There's no way Royal Lodge only has 7 bedrooms in total if you add in the dressing rooms and staff quarters. I once had a linen cupboard bigger than the smallest bedroom and Royal Lodge will have loads of walk-in cupboards and nooks that most people would use as/count as bedrooms.

They aren't 'ordinary people'. His little brother lives in a 102 room house. His sister's house Gatcombe Park has a total of 32 rooms, which includes nine bedrooms, four reception rooms, a library, a billiards room, a conservatory, and staff accommodation.

I didn't say they were ordinary people, .they however do not really deserve to be living in such a large royal residence.

They aren't working royals, so I agree.

Who’s funding Andrew? And what are they getting in return? It must be something - you don’t chuck a quarter of a million a year at a cosseted, reputationally-damaged non-entity for no reason

Looking at his areas of interest I'd say that's likely to be Gulf Arabs, Libyans and the Chinese, @Dolphinnoises

As for what they're getting out of it: Knighthoods - honorary or otherwise - and other awards perhaps?

If Charles, via Fawcett, could flog them I see no reason Andrew wouldn't want a piece of that pie too, and I can't see Charles refusing if he needs to keep his brother silent

I think it's disingenuous to ask how they pay for it. Wealth begets wealth, investments etc etc. Money doesn't work the same for the super rich as it does for you or I.

She was relying on an enormous overdraft which HMQ had to pay off.

I wonder if dear PA pays his utility bills etc?
His true colours sound like Shameless the tv series.

Some of the ground floor rooms are huge, too.

Andrew has a 100 yr lease, I read the rent was 260k per year!
If he doesn't pay his rent then hopefully he'll get evicted but they can't just throw them both out unless he defaults.

Sorry, but none of this is accurate.

The lease was 75 years when he took it out; it runs until 2078. It contains a provision for his daughters/ex-wife to take it on when he dies.

The rent is not 260k p/a. His lease stipulates only a 'peppercorn' rent, and only if demanded. A Peppercorn rent is a symbolic, token amount. £1, for example.

The reason this is the case is that prior to Andrew moving in, the property was in a state of disrepair. Due to it's location on the Windsor estate, it is all but impossible to rent out on the open market. The options were either using it as a 'grace and favour' property for a royal to live in rent-free and using public funds for the repairs, or have a paying royal move in and foot the bill.

Andrew's deal to take on the lease included an upfront payment of £5m (which later rose to £7.5m) for repairs and restorations, a £2.5m buyout payment to absolve him of future rent and and a £1 payment to the Crown Estate. He also took on responsibility for certain upkeep and maintenance.

This ticked all the boxes in terms of having a royal in the property, having the building restored without using public funds and satisfying the crown's legal duty to provide 'value for money' to the taxpayer.

If he leaves at any point during the first 25 years of the lease, he can claim some of the money back.

That is one Hell of a deal for Andrew.

Surely no-one's forced to work for them?

Totally! There’s been rumours of them being difficult so I suppose most people would vote with their feet? I’ve no idea what their staff turnover is like?

Having seen drone footage of Royal Lodge it certainly isn't a modest dwelling! It is not a Palace, but it is a Royal Estate, it looks enormous! A photo in the article

The Grade II-listed Georgian mansion is laid out across three storeys with two-storey wings, and features a “formal room” and a spacious drawing room with intricate mouldings and millwork, high ceilings and large, arched windows opening out on to the rear terrace.
There is a conservatory and a saloon, reportedly measuring about 15 metres by 9 metres (48ft by 30ft), and seven bedrooms. In fact, the residence is so large that both Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were able to host their wedding receptions at home.

He has a butler, housekeeper, and cook
There is a chapel lodge, 6 cottages, a gardener's cottage, accommodation for security, a swimming pool, a golf driving range, and tennis courts. Modest it is not!
Why should he live like this? Surely surely he can move into somewhere smaller.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/oct/21/royal-lodge-or-mini-palace-the-30-room-house-caught-up-in-the-prince-andrew-scandal