Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will remain at their lavish Windsor mansion in the near future, but fear they could be ‘kicked out’ amid a shake-up within the Royal Family.
The Duke of York is said to be expecting a letter giving him notice to leave Royal Lodge, a 31-bedroom property he leases from the Crown Estate, at some point in the future.
The concerns come as his brother Charles begins his reign as King and looks to make good on previous promises that he will streamline the monarchy.
As part of this is thought there will be a review into the Crown’s vast property portfolio, which covers 500,000-plus acres of land, and how it is being used.
This review could lead to the decision to kick Andrew out of the mansion he shares with his ex-wife and the corgis which used to belong to his late mother.
While he is safe in the immediate future following the death the Queen, sources have said that he might be told to leave in the future, according to The Sun.
Prince Andrew fears he and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson could be kicked out of their Windsor mansion, according to reports
The divorced couple live in Royal Lodge, a 31-bedroom mansion in Windsor that used to belong to the Queen Mother
It is thought that the royal would be owed a significant amount of money if told to leave the house.
He signed a preferential but undisclosed 100-year lease on the property, which used to belong to the late Queen Mother, that could entitle him to up to £7million if severed by the Crown.
The late Queen’s third child has been largely shut away from the public eye in recent years for his association with Jeffrey Epstein and subsequent civil case involving one of the deceased paedophile’s victims.
While Andrew settled the case in the US without accepting guilt, he was stripped of his royal and military titles and has been forced away from the spotlight at the behest of King Charles III and his son Prince William.
Andrew does not own any property of his own, apart an £18million ski chalet he so disastrously bought with his ex-wife in Verbier five years ago.
He has now been forced to sell that after failing to make the second £5million instalment he owed the vendor, French socialite Isabelle de Rouvre, who took legal action to retrieve it.
However, despite accepting an offer for the property a year ago, it still has not been sold, The Sun reports.
An insider told the paper Andrew, who was considered to be ‘under the protection of the Queen’ would not be removed from Royal Lodge in the near future as it would ‘seem callous to throw them out so soon after she died’.
They added: ‘But if he’s doing no duties and rattling around a £30million mansion during the cost-of-living crisis, then it’s a terrible look.’
A spokesman for the Duke of York did not comment when contacted by The Sun.
The property is owned by the Crown Estate, which is thought to be set to undertake a review of its portfolio now Charles has become king
If he does leave it is not clear where he will live, having sold his former marital home Sunninghill Park, near Windsor, which was a wedding gift from the Queen.
The 12-bedroom property, likened to an out-of-town superstore, had languished on the market for five years before suddenly being bought in 2007 for £15million – £3million over the asking price – by Timur Kulibayev.
Kulibayev is the son-in-law of Prince Andrew’s friend and goose-hunting partner Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former autocratic ruler of Kazakhstan.
Asked about the deal, Mr Kulibayev said at the time that the decision to pay £3million over the asking price for a property that had been on the market unsold for five years had come about because of a briefing from Prince Andrew’s camp that other parties were interested in it.
‘We can confirm at the time of purchase we were told that there were several interested parties,’ said his spokesman.
Earlier this year it was revealed that the Duchess of York had bought a £5million luxury property in Mayfair.
Andrew has been forced to put his £18million chalet in the ski resort of Verbier on the market
The Duke of York also previously sold his £15million 12-bedroom love nest, Sunninghill Park in Berkshire
The property is said to be viewed as an investment opportunity for her daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, but for now it is Fergie’s only home in London amid questions about where she could have found the cash.
Her multi-million pound purchase came despite her repeated complaints of financial difficulties in recent years, describing herself as ‘continually on the verge of financial bankruptcy’ in a 2010 TV interview in the US.
She also admitted to having ‘little understanding’ of money and there were reports she had run up as much as £4.2million in debt during her marriage to Andrew.
She received £3million from their divorce and most of her income is now likely to come from her books.
Her first bodice-ripper crept onto the bestseller charts last year – despite critics branding it a ‘slog’ with no sex. Critics branded the book ‘boring’ but it initially sold 1,000 copies a week when it was released.
People on the street said the Duchess had been spotted viewing the house in the late spring – and seen running into a waiting vehicle. They admitted they were happy to have yet another famous neighbour – as long as her ex-husband stays away.