Prince Andrew has officially been financially cut off by the King, marking a new low in relations between the brothers.
An updated biography by acclaimed royal writer Robert Hardman, serialised by the Mail, reveals that despite the Duke of York’s attempts to call the monarch’s bluff, Charles has acted decisively.
In recent weeks he has instructed his Keeper of the Privy Purse, the monarchy’s finance director, to sever his beleaguered younger brother’s annual personal allowance – believed to be in the region of £1 million a year – and no longer pays for his seven-figure private security detail.
‘The duke is no longer a financial burden on the King,’ confirms a source.
The King, who has also long made clear his wish to see Andrew move out of his vast 30-room mansion at Windsor, Royal Lodge, has now placed the ball firmly back in his brother’s court.
In doing so, he has, Hardman also reveals for the first time, made good on his late mother’s determination to solve the ‘Andrew issue‘ once and for all.
Indeed, impeccably placed sources reveal that had she lived another year, Queen Elizabeth, who had long been accused of being reluctant to take action against her rumoured favourite son, would have forced him to leave his family home and downsize to Frogmore Cottage, the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
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An updated edition of Hardman’s best-selling biography, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, which was published earlier this year, is now being brought out in hardback with extra material and three new chapters packed with fascinating detail.
Among the new revelations is how Prince Harry’s determination to doggedly pursue legal action against the Home Office over its decision to withdraw his round-the-clock security when he quit royal duties has driven a wedge between father and son.
The King fears that if he repairs his relationship with Harry he could be dragged into the case, placing him in ‘legal jeopardy’.
Royal insiders have also hit back at suggestions that they failed to help Meghan when she joined the Royal Family, saying she threw their offer back in their faces.
They insist, far from throwing the Duchess to the wolves, as she has suggested, they did everything in their power to help her – and it was she who said no.
Sources say the King is not against some sort of rapprochement with the Sussexes despite the barrage of criticism he had received. But it has not been an easy process.
