It’s ridiculously funny to watch as Buckingham Palace’s operations are in shambles because everything has been hijacked by this situation with Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. It’s not just Andrew and Fergie’s catastrophes consuming the royal storylines, it’s about King Charles’s dithering and his inability to simply cauterize the bleed and make the (not so) hard decisions. We’ve known for the past week that Andrew and Fergie need to be thrown out of Royal Lodge. While they should be handed off to the British and American authorities for questioning and/or arrest, the “royal solution” to this problem has always been relatively easy: buy out Andrew’s lease using private Duchy of Lancaster funds, force Andrew and Fergie to move into Wood Farm or some other property on the Sandringham estate, and order them to never show their faces again. It’s that simple. And Charles can’t do it. He’s incapable of making those calls. And it’s even funnier because Andrew and Fergie are openly briefing against Charles, meaning the majority of these negotiations are taking place in the British tabloids. Speaking of:
A bitter row between Buckingham Palace and Royal Lodge over plans for Prince Andrew and Fergie’s new homes has now escalated into a full blown civil war, The Sun can reveal. The King is adamant his brother — engulfed by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal — must quit his 31-room Windsor mansion but his efforts to force him out have now dragged on for almost three years and talks have become increasingly strained.
Insiders sense Charles could finally be about to get his way after pressure was cranked up when Andy and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson gave up their Duke and Duchess of York titles — and it was revealed they had not paid rent on Royal Lodge for 20 years. However, each side is now briefing against one another as the two brothers are caught up in a stand-off over the Queen Mother’s beloved former home.
The Sun revealed this week that during “advanced talks” Andy, the late Queen’s favourite son, had suggested he would leave Royal Lodge in exchange for Frogmore Cottage – where workmen and decorators have recently been seen working round the clock.
The 65-year-old Prince was first offered the Grade-II listed home when Prince Harry and wife Meghan were ordered to leave it in January 2023. Sarah Ferguson, 66, had asked for Adelaide Cottage after Prince William and wife Kate’s expected move to Forest Lodge early next month. Yet a source close to Fergie maintains it was the palace who first offered her Adelaide Cottage in May. But Royal sources instantly hit back to shoot down her claims — saying Adelaide Cottage was never offered to the ex-Duchess of York.
The same sources did not deny that Fergie herself had asked for the beautiful property, which is just a stone’s throw from Windsor Castle. The war of words is said to be a clear sign of the increasing hostility of the disputes in what has become a “Game of Homes” royal housing crisis.
An insider said: “The palace has been trying to get Andrew and Sarah to leave Royal Lodge for almost three years now. But it’s the ugliest it has ever been. Claims and counterclaims about who was offered what and when show it’s not going well.”
As my father was fond of saying: “Be a manager. Manage the situation.” As in, someone has to be in charge and make the difficult call. You have to be willing to be the bad guy if you want to be a manager or an executive. That’s the problem with Charles and the royal system writ large though – they don’t know how to manage situations and they always falter when they’re called upon to make a difficult, tricky or nuanced call. Do you ever just stand back and think about how crazy it is that in the wake of Virginia Giuffre’s devastating account of trafficking, assault, abuse, one of the men who abused her has been fighting about whether he gets to stay in his mansion?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
