Prince Andrew’s Royal Lodge: Everything We Know About Controversial Home

Prince Andrew’s housing arrangements have become the subject of rolling public debate since he stepped down from his royal roles in 2019 following a car-crash television interview about his friendship with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

When Virginia Giuffre—who claims she was a victim of Epstein’s—sued the prince in 2021 over allegations of sexual assault dating back to when she was 17, the royal faced further public scrutiny. Though he has maintained a strong denial of all wrongdoing and settled the lawsuit out of court, he still faces intense criticism, with objections raised at any attempt to rejoin public life, leaving older brother King Charles III with a public relations problem.

One of these problems is poor optics surrounding Andrew’s palatial home, which sits on the outskirts of Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, England.

The house was formerly the residence of kings and queens, and became Andrew’s home in 2003. However, when he ceased to be a working royal after the Epstein interview, he also lost his state-funded security, leaving Royal Lodge at risk as it sits outside the secure police ring that protects Windsor Castle itself.

Queen Elizabeth II reportedly met the cost of a private security team for her son thereafter, a deal that King Charles continued until now.

According to reports in Britain, the king has cut the security funding and is encouraging his brother to vacate Royal Lodge in favor of a smaller property within the Windsor police ring, thus making it more private and cost affective. These plans are the basis of an apparent stalemate between the siblings.

Here, Newsweek takes a look at Prince Andrew‘s controversial home, its past and present.

Royal Lodge Origins

The origins of Royal Lodge date back to the 17th century. It has taken several forms and was heavily enlarged and altered over subsequent decades, being used by King George VI and his brother King William IV as a hunting lodge in the 19th century.

The most famous residents of Royal Lodge were King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother).

They moved into the property shortly after their marriage in the 1930s before they came to the throne and undertook significant refurbishments and rebuilding work to create a palatial family home for themselves and their two daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.

The house is large and has a white 1930s façade with traces of the building’s older origins still visible within. It is not known how many bedrooms the property contains and few photographs of its interiors are in the public domain.

The Queen Mother retained use of the lodge after her husband’s death in 1952 and died at the property in 2002 at the age of 101.

After her death, the property was offered to the Crown Estate, the organization that manages the property portfolio belonging to the monarch, to be considered for private leasing to members of the public. However, this presented a number of issues.

Prince Andrew and Royal Lodge

Royal Lodge was considered unviable for public lease for a number of reasons, the first being its proximity to Windsor Castle and the Royal Chapel, which was used regularly by Queen Elizabeth II, creating a security concern.

Another was that in order to be leased to the public, the Crown Estate would have had to spend a considerable amount of money on renovations to bring it to a legally habitable standard.

In 2005, a report on Crown Estate properties inhabited by members of the royal family was drawn up at the request of a member of parliament. Held in the National Archives it revealed that after the death of the Queen Mother, Prince Andrew approached the Crown Estate with an offer to lease Royal Lodge.

This was granted for a 75-year term in 2003 for the property and subsequent outbuildings including cottages, gatehouses and 40 hectares of land.

In exchange, Andrew promised to pay £7.5 million ($9.9 million) from his personal funds to refurbish and conserve the fabric of the building, and made a one-off payment of £1 million ($1.3 million) in lieu of future rent.

At the time of the 2005 report, it was stated that the prince had so far spent in excess of the £7.5 million estimated figure.

Andrew does not own the freehold of the estate, this rests with the Crown Estate, and in the event of his death before the end of the 75-year lease agreement it can only be inherited by either his widow (he is currently unmarried) or his two children, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

If Andrew wanted to terminate his lease, the Crown Estate would be required to pay him back a percentage of the money he spent on renovations up to £7 million. This figure reduces each year and after the first 25 years he holds the lease there will be no amount paid.

Andrew signed the lease in 2003 meaning that if he remains in the property until 2028, he will no longer be entitled to a Crown Estate repayment.

After the 75-year lease term is up, the property will revert to the control of the Crown Estate.

It is possible that thereafter it could be considered as a residence for another royal family member, or put up for public lease.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.

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