Here we go … Andrew to leave Royal Lodge and lose title

[Flixon]

Headlined in The Times just now …. About bloody time …

Still living in a (no doubt large) tax payer funded house.....
Yes, however you phrase it, Sandringham is ultimately paid for by us, money better spent on the NHS.

Tower of London would have been preferable to Sandringham.

About time they’ve done something though. He’s gotten away with it for so long it makes me think that they’re trying to get ahead of more stories coming out in the press.

Curious to know what happens after KC is gone. Can’t imagine William will want to keep on funding his disgraced uncle.

PR propaganda in a family with billions in offshore accounts and getting "private" millions from feudal land concessions like the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster

Sandringham, like Balmoral, is the King’s private property and is funded from his personal money.

Yes, ensuring that he lives there means that he's not publicly funded.

Watching this unfold with Prince Andrew just proves Parliament isn’t keeping the royal family in check as it’s supposed to do. We supposedly are a “constitutional monarchy” but there’s nothing constitutional about power without scrutiny. The whole thing feels like a farce.

I agree with PPs, why do B and E have apartments at Kensington Palace?

As far as I understand it they are not working royals and both have jobs and (rich) husbands.

And they are hardly squeaky clean themselves.

None of the royal family are ‘squeaky clean’. I’d like them all to go.

I agree.

@Kahar
It's very obvious that it's because of VG's book release, the content it covers, and the worldwide traction it's getting.
I am scratching my head and struggling to understand why you can't easily see this very obvious reason?

Just had to share this!
Oh the Grand Old duke of York
He had twelve million quid
He gave it all to a girl he'd never met
For something he never did

Good Riddance

All about the optics. The email from Fergie, the book and now people looking at the house in Windsor and questions asked about scrutiny of finances. They don't want people looking at the money so better to do something that looks like they are doing something. Free house on a secure estate then whatever money is required and hopefully the problem goes away (or quiet).

I don’t understand why you have to be rude.

VG has made these claims before. I believe her. The RF have done their best to avoid this whole thing and pretend they are leaving it to the authorities and due process.

It’s still just VG’s word against Andrew’s at this point. Like it has been for years. I was just curious why the RF has suddenly shifted tactics. Especially given their attempt at a resolution last week.

Judging by the paltry sentence diddy got most would just get a slap on the wrist.

I have to say how stunned I am that no one seems to be bothered by A&S financials, back handers, possible bribes, tax avoidance, things that actually are in the public domain after lownies book. The lack of investigation is astonishing. It reflects badly on government, police, HMRC and the royal family, I just think they are all at it and don't care.
Donald trump famously said to Hilary Clinton that he wasn't paying a particular tax as no one rich did, she also wasn't paying it or any of her friends. It was a loophole used by the wealthy. Shine a light on one and it puts the spotlight on all of them.

Anne's ok, isn’t she? Can't think of anything Catherine's done either. She's bland but that's why she suits it so well.

Charles is hoping for no further scrutiny into the RF, I suspect. But this probably won’t die down and he needs to prepare himself for that.

Y’know, despite not being a royalist, I think that he’s probably a fundamentally good man who’s married to an equally good woman. But his priority, and hers, is the institution. And I suspect that an investigation into finances would be interesting and would cause further damage.

You have a good point, I'm wondering if it's because of VG's book.
Also, Andrew's ghastly posturing outside the DoK funeral, trying to be pally with William just showed that he has absolutely no guilt or shame and just loves being front and centre.
It's just got too much.

Do you not think the way he treated his first wife shows he’s very far from being a fundamentally good man?

It's all a very sorry mess, but I don't like the fact that so many people are so gleeful about it. It's not a good trait - schadenfreude I think it is called. And what happened to the £12 million???

Catherine married in to the family so we can give her a pass I guess. I do believe Anne had an affair? Also sges probably complicit in knowing what was going on and not speaking up. Don’t care for any of them.

I was not allowed to do the meet and greet with Andrew as I wouldn't curtesy.
I'm off for a breast screening today, bet I'm having a better day than him!

Isn't it really time for a wider discussion on the future of the Royal family? £510 million every year they cost the country. Surely that money could be better spent on our crumbling hospitals? The land could all be opened up for public access and all the properties could be taken on by the National Trust or be opened up for use for the general public as rest homes, hospices, schools etc. Appreciate that some might say that they do a tremendous job in bringing in tourism, but France hasn't had a royal family for hundreds of years and yet the former Palaces still brings in millions of tourists every year. I really don't understand why we as taxpayers should be forced to pay for this utter nonsense without any consent, debate or discussion about how our earned money is spent.

What's your evidence that Anne knew what was going on?
She's been leading her own life and has her own family. That's quite an accusation..

I didn't see Andrew as posturing at the Duchess of Kent's funeral, he was just being normal with his family. I daresay if we had seen the press following others around, they'd have been doing the same as him and nobody would have thought anything of it. They didn't follow others, homed in on him.

Regarding VG's book, there was nothing in it about Andrew that had not been alleged before, I did notice a few details were changed about the famous meeting in London at Ghislane Maxwell's house but nothing major. That was approximately half way through the book. He was very small fry compared to others she talked about.

I disagree. Andrew was posturing. I'm watching the film now on Sky News. Everyone else is standing waiting for the cars, chatting quietly. He's front and centre, trying and failing to engage William, then walking up and down.