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FEELS THE SQUEEZE
King axes Andrew’s private security team at Windsor mansion piling pressure on disgraced royal to quit 31-room property
Charles could even cut off the £4million a year he pays to keep the Duke afloat
DISGRACED Prince Andrew is under new pressure to quit his Royal Lodge home after the King laid off its ten-strong security team.
Charles, 75, has told the detail they are no longer needed from the autumn.
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This weekend he and Andrew are both staying at the Balmoral estate in Scotland as tension over the Duke’s mansion intensifies.
The King has been funding private guards at the 31-room Windsor pile since Andrew’s £3million-a-year armed cops were removed in 2022 amid the US sex abuse case.
A Palace insider told The Sun on Sunday last night: “Everyone is speculating this means the Duke will have to leave the Royal Lodge because what other reason could there be to take his security away?
“They are all working the final weeks of their contract till the end of October. It’s not thought anyone is being lined up to replace them.
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“It isn’t a secret that the King wants him out.”
It is unclear what will happen to the team after they leave.
In May it emerged Charles was turning up the heat on Andy in a stand-off dubbed the “siege of Royal Lodge” — warning his brother’s life will become “increasingly cold and uncomfortable”.
Charles could even cut off the £4million a year he pays to keep the Duke afloat.
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Earlier this year The Sun exclusively revealed Andrew, who lives at the Lodge with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, had rejected the chance to move to nearby Frogmore Cottage, former home of Harry and Meghan.
Friends of the Duke say his “cast iron” 75-year lease on the Lodge means he has no reason to give up his home he has lived in for the past 20 years.
Inside Prince Andrew's ‘narrow world’ this summer from being ‘stuck’ at ‘crumbling’ Royal Lodge to Balmoral break
Palace sources have always insisted Andrew “remains the King’s brother” and is welcome at family events but will never return to public duty.
Andrew has previously been caught lobbying behind the scenes for the Home Office to reinstate his taxpayer-funded security perk.
He lost his round-the-clock Met Police security after he was summoned to Windsor Castle in January 2022 and stripped of his royal roles by the late Queen.
It came after he vowed to fight accusations of sexual assault by former Epstein slave Virginia Giuffre.
The Duke ended up paying millions of pounds to Ms Giuffre and the case never went to court.
He denies any wrongdoing.
The fate of the Royal Lodge remains unclear.
The Sun on Sunday understands the Royal Household would not move any royals into the property but look to find a new tenant.
William and Kate do not want to move their family to the Lodge from Adelaide Cottage.
Two apartments at Kensington Palace are being refurbished but neither is being earmarked for Andrew, it is understood.
Andrew arrived at Balmoral on Friday for his summer break.
The King’s removal van was spotted at the castle yesterday.
Charles is set to move in — and host the extended Royal Family — after spending recent weeks at nearby Birkhall.
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The Sun on Sunday is not naming the private security firm guarding Royal Lodge.
The firm and Buckingham Palace both declined to comment.
BROTHER'S DUTY
By Ingrid Seward, Royal biographer
THE Duke of York’s sad situation is a problem that King Charles knew he would inherit.
His mother made it clear — if he was unable to work, Andrew was to be looked after as he had been during her lifetime.
After he ascended the throne Charles focused on savings and announced a slimmed-down monarchy.
Minor royals only get protection when they are out.
Andrew continually lobbied his mum for additional security.
She agreed, as she did to almost anything he demanded.
But his £3million-a-year taxpayer-funded Met Police protection had to go once he was stripped of royal duties.
Charles is a kind and thoughtful man.
He did not want his younger brother fretting about intruders at Royal Lodge.
And the last thing he wanted was for his increasingly frail mother to worry.
So he agreed to fund Andrew’s private security.
Charles still feels quite rightly it is his duty and his alone to keep his brother safe and he will continue to do so.
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