Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has finally left Royal Lodge and is preparing to move into a new far more humble abode – but there are questions about how his lifestyle will be funded
07:04, 07 Feb 2026Updated 11:47, 07 Feb 2026
Andrew will make his new home at the secluded Marsh Farm
Under the cover of darkness, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor left Royal Lodge on Monday night. The disgraced royal had already been giving his marching orders as a result of his association with Jeffrey Epstein. But it appears King Charles expedited his eviction following the latest release of damning emails exchanged between the two men.
Andrew is set to move into Marsh Farm on the Sandringham estate. For the time being, however, he is holed up at Wood Farm – which Prince Philip made his retirement home in his twilight years – as renovations are completed at the red-brick property.
Andrew’s future new home was reportedly chosen because while it is on the Sandringham estate, it’s not too close to the main house, which the Royal Family use for special occasions including Christmas Day. It also has the benefit of keeping him out of the public gaze.
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A view of Marsh Farm on the Sandringham Estate(Image: PA)
Despite the enormous fallout through his links to Epstein, Andrew has continued to be photographed out riding his horse around the Windsor estate, and even waving to members of the public – something said to have left a bitter taste in the King’s mouth. But Wood Farm is far more secluded than Royal Lodge, and cannot be seen from public thoroughfares, making sightings far less likely.
Nevertheless, the former Prince is apparently “appalled” that he will only have five bedrooms in his ‘poky’ new home. A source recently told the Daily Mail: “He really didn’t want Marsh Farm… He won’t have lived anywhere that small since he left his apartment at Buckingham Palace.” Five bedrooms might be more than most people have across the UK, but the former prince will not have room for live-in staff, something that is said to be a point of contention.
Andrew is expected to be wholly dependent on his brother, the King, for both his home and his money following his spectacular fall from grace. Charles is understood to be funding Andrew’s new accommodation himself and to be making “appropriate private provision” as he moves from Royal Lodge.
Much has been made about the fact that King Charles will be bankrolling his brother privately from now on. The Sandringham Estate, a vast 20,000 acre property that has been passed from monarch to monarch since 1862, has not been subject to inheritance tax, because monarchs can pass assets to the heir to the throne, tax free.
This Estate, where the Royal Family spend Christmas, is not part of the Crown Estate, nor is it owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, from which the King derives his income. The Duchy of Lancaster is described as “a private estate held in trust for the Sovereign and their successors” – so it is not owned personally by Charles as a private individual, instead he holds it by right of the crown.
The King stripped his brother of all of his royal titles last October(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
This is where things get a little “murky”. Charles can make a vast income from the Duchy of Lancaster while he wears the crown – called the “Privy Purse” – but he cannot sell any of its assets for private gain. He, as did the late Queen, voluntarily pays income tax on the profits the Duchy makes that are not used for official royal purposes. The income is used to cover expenditure that is not covered by the taxpayer funded Sovereign Grant.
Sandringham, along with Balmoral, are owned by Charles the person, not Charles the head of state – so there is some truth to the idea that Andrew will now be living on “private property,” explains Graham Smith from the campaign group Republic. But it isn’t totally black and white. “It’s a bit of both, I think we give them so much money that their whole lifestyle, the whole fact that they are as wealthy as they are is due to huge public subsidies over generations. Arguably, if they weren’t exempt from inheritance tax, they wouldn’t have been able to keep Balmoral and Sandringham,” Graham tells the Mirror.
“So it’s all heavily subsidised by the taxpayer. Technically, Sandringham is private property, unlike the Duchies, but the upkeep, the travel to and from, the security – a lot of it is a bit murky – but we know there is certainly a lot of public money being spent in that. It isn’t like he bought some other house in some other part of the country.”
The campaigner adds that “Sandringham is also heavily policed and staffed at taxpayers expense. So [Andrew’s] new arrangements will in one way or another still cost the UK taxpayer a lot of money.”
A government memo from 2023 explains that because Sandringham has an “official” and “private use,” it is not subject to tax. It also claims that the monarchy needs “private resources to enable it to continue” as well as giving it a “degree of financial independence from the government of the day”.
Andrew continued to ride around Royal Lodge prior to his eviction(Image: Bruce Bennett)
Graham explains that when it comes to Sandringham, “To my mind…the balance is very much in favour of it being private,” despite things like the police security at the estate, but, he argues this “raises questions about why it’s not properly taxed in terms of inheritance. It’s estimated that Charles inherited something like £750 million when the Queen died and 40 percent of that is a huge amount of money.”
So where is the money that Charles will be bankrolling Andrew with coming from? Graham argues that if it is from the Duchy of Lancaster income, it is not entirely the King’s private wealth. This is because, in his view, the evidence is “unequivocal” that the duchies “are crown assets, which are state assets.”
The campaigner, points out that if William or Charles abdicated their position, they would lose the duchies, which means that the Duchy of Lancaster does not totally fulfil the definition of private property as most people understand it. Equally, the government memo on royal tax from 2023 backs this up, dubbing Sandringham and other similar assets as things that can be “properly be regarded as private,” indicating that in some ways, the Duchies aren’t.
Taxpayer funding goes straight to the House of Windsor through the Sovereign Grant, and this maintains palaces like Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. The King uses his wealth, primarily derived from income from the Duchy of Lancaster, to fund the upkeep of both Sandringham and Balmoral. The income also covers other royal expenditure, which some argue, helps keep the cost of the Sovereign Grant down.
Andrew is expected to be reliant on his brother’s finances(Image: Getty Images)
But this all leaves many questions unanswered about how Andrew’s lifestyle will be funded, and whether it is really fair to say that Charles is footing the bill privately, if most of his wealth comes from either untaxed inheritance, or the income of a duchy he does not own personally.
Speaking to the Mirror, royal expert Afua Acheampong-Hagan reflected on whether the King’s wealth really is private, noting: “He has that wealth from the crown, so I mean inevitably if you dig through, it essentially is public money…
“[Andrew] is going to be on that private Sandringham Estate, but it’s still funded by the crown [in some ways], and that crown’s wealth comes from the state. Inevitably we are still looking out for Andrew, paying for him to be in palatial surroundings whilst he has been gallivanting around the world. We know he has denied all the allegations against him and we have no context for the pictures [in the Epstein files], but he still associated himself with someone who is a convicted sex offender before and after their conviction.”
A removals van leaving Royal Lodge(Image: Getty Images)
Andrew’s departure from Windsor followed the publication of an email on Monday night in which the royal appeared to tell Epstein he wanted to be his ‘pet’. Police have also now that they will be assessing claims that the American financier trafficked a second woman to the UK to have sex with the disgraced Prince. Andrew is yet to comment on the new allegations but has previously vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
The 65-year-old was last seen publicly on Monday afternoon when he was photographed riding on horseback close to Royal Lodge. He was also snapped driving away from Windsor Castle, reportedly waving at passersby. But just hours later, he left his £30million, 31-room Royal Lodge for good – three months after being ordered to hand back his lease.
In recent weeks, work has been ongoing at Marsh Farm in preparation for Andrew’s arrival, including the installation of CCTV cameras, a security system and new fences. Sky engineers have been seen on the site, and it’s likely the interior is also being decorated.
Marsh Farm reportedly requires a “huge security overhaul” to ensure it’s safe for Andrew(Image: UK Press via Getty Images)
However, Andrew’s new home is on a flood plain, with residents advised to sign up for alerts in case local measures fail to stop a torrent of water from a nearby bog. According to The Sun, a flood risk assessment from last year for Wolferton Barns – located metres from Marsh Farm – said it would be ‘prudent’ for the owner to be added to the flood warning system in case the pumping station which drains marshland had a mechanical breakdown.
The disgraced Duke is also likely to have to forgo staff, which he apparently won’t have the space – nor, presumably, the means – for. It’s been said that his brother the King has offered him a Sandringham cleaner, groundsman and cook on an ad hoc basis – but that “hasn’t gone down well”.
Andrew will live at Marsh Farm alone. Having spent the last 18 years living with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, the pair are now going their separate ways. Sarah is said to have fled the UK while she considers her options; a spokesperson for Sarah previously dismissed rumours that she was moving into an annexe at the country home of her eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, or that she may live with Princess Eugenie in Portugal.
Meanwhile, Fergie’s daughters are said to be ‘aghast’ at the recent Epstein bombshells – including a photo of their father on all fours and leaning over a young woman lying on the floor, and their mother’s fawning emails to the sex offender, along with a shocking message which Sarah speaks about Eugenie’s sex life.
A source close to Eugenie and Beatrice told the Daily Mail: “They are aghast at what they have read. They are mortified by the emails their mother has sent to Epstein. It is so embarrassing for them.
“We don’t believe the girls were told much about what has just emerged [in the latest Epstein files release], and they will simply be aghast at just how close their parents were to this appalling man.”
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.