His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, still has all of his titles and royal stylings. He still has his sweetheart-deal lease on Royal Lodge, an enormous mansion on the Royal Windsor estate. He still has all kinds of shady friends funneling money to him. He also still has royal protection, both personally and for Royal Lodge. Recently, there were rumors that the Ravec recommendation was for Andrew’s royal protection to be pulled somehow. Something was worked out though – the “taxpayer” will not be footing the bill… in the traditional sense. Apparently, King Charles is going to pay for Andrew’s private security, and Charles will likely pay for the security through one of the monarch’s slush funds. Those same slush funds will not be used when it comes to Prince Harry’s security though. Of course not.
The Duke of York’s private security bill is likely to be funded by the King, despite the monarch’s refusal to pay for Prince Harry’s protection. Prince Andrew is to be stripped of his taxpayer-funded Metropolitan Police protection as he no longer performs public duties. His armed personal protection officers will be replaced by private security guards at an estimated cost of up to £3 million a year.
The King is expected to foot the bill as the Duke has no discernible regular income. Such a move is likely to rankle the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who complained in their Netflix documentary that the withdrawal of their own taxpayer-funded security left their lives in danger.
The Duke of York is said to have written to the Home Office and Scotland Yard to complain about losing his police protection. His entitlement to taxpayer-funded bodyguards was subjected to a full review after he was relieved of his duties as a working royal by Queen Elizabeth II earlier this year, shortly before agreeing a hefty financial settlement with Virginia Guiffre, his sex abuse accuser. The Duke of York has always strenuously denied her allegations. While he is understood to have enjoyed the benefits of police protection since then, the deal is believed to be coming to an end.
All decisions about royal security are made by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as Ravec.
The Duke’s property on the Windsor estate has separate, permanent security arrangements.
Meanwhile, the Duke of York is expected to join fellow royals at their annual pre-Christmas lunch on Tuesday at Windsor Castle. Up to 50 members of the wider family are expected to gather at the castle for the private event, which will be hosted by the King for the first time. The lunch has traditionally been held at Buckingham Palace. It was last held in 2019 after being cancelled for the last two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Buckingham Palace and a spokesman for the Duke declined to comment.
[From The Telegraph]
Charles has made it clear repeatedly that Andrew is not welcome in royal life or in public life whatsoever. And yet Charles will go out of his way to allow Andrew to keep the sweetheart-lease on Royal Lodge with taxpayer-funded security on the property, plus the king ensures that Andrew will have full private security paid for by the king’s slush fund. Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan have been under constant and mortal danger for the better part of five years, and Charles only gave them a couple of weeks’ notice before yanking their security. Tyler Perry was 100% accurate when he said: “I saw my mother be abused for years. I knew the symptoms, I knew what it was like…This woman was abused and so was he…To use the institution to try and do all the things a batterer would do, like, here’s what we’re gonna do, ‘we’re gonna cut off the money; we’re not gonna leave you security; we’re gonna do all those things to make you comply and come back’.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
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