bitchy | What kind of ‘payoff’ did King Charles have to give Andrew Mountbatten Windsor?

King Charles’s communications office has given multiple briefings to the royal rota in the past 24 hours about the “Andrew Mountbatten Windsor” situation. According to the official rota, the degenerate formerly known as Prince Andrew is being punished severely by his brother King Charles. “The move” to strip Andrew of all titles and force him out of Royal Lodge was “entirely down to the King and his advisors, without pressure from the Government or other family members, such as Prince William.” Becky English was seemingly the first to report, in the Daily Mail, that while Andrew is being moved into a home on the Sandringham Estate, it won’t be Wood Farm, which was where Prince Philip retired to in his final years.

English also noted this: “Sources said it has been necessary, given how swiftly events were unfolding, to focus on getting proper security in place. In an act of mercy, the King will fund the move privately and, as Andrew remains a member of the family, Charles will also make ‘private provisions’ for him.” So… Charles is ensuring Andrew’s security, paying for Andrew to live rent-free in Norfolk, and Andrew will also get “private provisions.” What the rota doesn’t want to talk about (yet) is what kind of financial settlement was made. Well, Tom Sykes got a big tip for his Royalist Substack about what kind of money was involved.

In the end, King Charles didn’t have any choice. He had to give his brother, what he has long been asking for. For I am told that ex-Prince Andrew has received a “handsome” payoff worth millions in return for surrendering his lease on Royal Lodge.

On Thursday, Andrew was stripped of his princely titles in a humiliating manner. He will now be known as Mr Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, following new revelations about his links to Jeffrey Epstein and the publication of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre’s memoir. However, critics immediately said it was not an adequate response.

Graham Smith of the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic told The Royalist podcast (and fulsome apologies that it did not stream concurrently here): “The problem is the royals keep thinking this is enough. I couldn’t care less about the prince title. He remains accused of serious offenses and I do not believe that there is not enough evidence to have a genuine police investigation. Worrying about what he is called, or where he lives, is not an appropriate response.”

Royal aides said that Andrew Mountbatten Windsor “did not object” to the removal of his titles. Friends of Mr Mountbatten Windsor told the Daily Beast that Andrew had reached a generous financial settlement with King Charles as part of the deal, which will see him move to a private home on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk as soon as is practicable. He is understood not to be moving to Wood Farm, the retirement home of the late Prince Philip.

One friend said, “Andrew made it clear that he needed to be financially recompensed for surrendering the remaining 50 years of his lease on one of England’s finest homes. The lease was his daughter’s inheritance and an asset, and in this country, you can’t seize people’s assets. Charles was always going to have to pay him off, and he has done what he should have done in the first place.”

Another friend of both Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew told the Daily Beast, “The pension is handsome.”

Buckingham Palace declined to comment; however, in official documentation seen by The Royalist, the palace admitted that not only would Andrew be given a home on the Sandringham estate funded by the king, but that he would also receive direct funding in the form of “appropriate private provision.” The palace also suggested that he would be allowed to continue earning money privately.

[From The Royalist Substack]

While Sykes calculates that Charles “settled” with Andrew for low-to-mid seven figures, I think Andrew would be a fool to take anything lower than $10 million or thereabouts. Andrew had Charles over a barrel, and Charles had to pay more because Charles had let this situation fester for so long, and Charles had completely misread the public mood. In exchange for his titles and the Royal Lodge lease, Andrew got: a generous payoff worth millions; a permanent home on the Windsors’ private estate in Norfolk; some kind of income for general upkeep; security for life, funded by the monarch; the ability to travel freely to the Middle East and make sketchy “deals” there; protection from any larger investigation and prosecution. Andrew made out like a bandit, and I’m waiting to see if there will be another backlash to this “deal.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.