Key Points
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor left Royal Lodge on February 3, 2026, moving to temporary accommodation at Wood Farm Cottage amid legal and familial pressure.
Buckingham Palace served formal notice to surrender his Royal Lodge lease in October 2025, coinciding with the removal of his royal titles and honours.
Andrew faces intensified legal scrutiny due to released US Department of Justice documents linking him to Jeffrey Epstein, prompting calls for his testimony.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew and the Duke of York, has left his long-time residence at Royal Lodge in Windsor, marking a dramatic new chapter in the ongoing fallout from his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The move, which took place under the cover of darkness on the night of February 3, 2026, comes amid mounting legal scrutiny and growing pressure from within the royal family, as well as a public still grappling with the revelations swirling around the disgraced royal.
According to the BBC, Andrew was last seen in Windsor on Monday, February 2, 2026, riding horseback near Royal Lodge and later photographed driving away from Windsor Castle, waving at onlookers. The next day, he quietly vacated the 31-room mansion he had called home for 24 years, relocating to temporary accommodation at Wood Farm Cottage on the King’s private Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. His permanent residence, Marsh Farm—also on the Sandringham grounds in the Norfolk village of Wolferton—is currently undergoing extensive renovations, including the installation of six-foot fences, CCTV security, and pest control measures, as reported by HELLO! and The Times.
The circumstances of Andrew’s departure were anything but ordinary. As The Sun and The Mirror detail, the former prince left Royal Lodge in the dead of night, a move described by confidants as deeply humiliating. “He had planned to cling on at Royal Lodge a little longer but with the latest batch of Epstein files it was made clear to him that it was time to go. Leaving was so humiliating for him that he chose to do it under the cover of darkness,” a friend told The Sun. Sources say Andrew was “appalled” at the prospect of moving to Marsh Farm, reportedly calling it “beneath him” due to its smaller size and relative isolation. Despite its five bedrooms—generous by most standards—Andrew is said to be frustrated by the lack of space for live-in staff, a luxury he enjoyed at Royal Lodge.
The move follows a formal notice to surrender the lease at Royal Lodge, served in October 2025, as confirmed by Buckingham Palace. The palace’s statement at the time was unequivocal: “Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.” The decision, as reported by the BBC, was linked to “serious lapses in Andrew’s judgement,” and came alongside the removal of his style, titles, and honours. “His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew. Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor,” read the Letters Patent released at the time.
The financial arrangements surrounding Royal Lodge have also come under scrutiny. When Andrew took on the 75-year lease in 2003, he agreed to pay more than £8 million upfront, effectively buying himself out of future rent obligations. The notional rent was set at £260,000 per year. While he could have been entitled to £488,000 for an early surrender of the lease, a National Audit Office report found that the property required so many repairs that compensation was unlikely.
Behind the scenes, pressure had been building for Andrew to provide testimony in the United States regarding his relationship with Epstein. This pressure intensified with the release of millions of pages of documents and images by the US Department of Justice, including email exchanges between Epstein and Andrew—some sent after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor. One particularly disturbing email, as reported by The Mirror, saw Andrew write to Epstein in December 2010: “Kate has agreed to a deal in London. It’s down to you to bring J over the line. God it’s cold and dank here! Wish I was still a pet in your family!”
The legal scrutiny is not limited to the United States. Thames Valley Police are now assessing allegations that a woman was sent to the UK by Epstein for a sexual encounter with Andrew at Royal Lodge in 2010. The woman, then in her 20s and not British, claims she spent the night at the residence and was subsequently given tea and a tour of Buckingham Palace. Her lawyer, Brad Edwards, told the BBC that this is the first time an Epstein survivor has alleged a sexual encounter occurred at a royal residence. Thames Valley Police confirmed to The Guardian: “We are aware of reports about a woman said to have been taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes. We are assessing the information in line with our established procedures.” At this stage, neither the woman nor her lawyer has made a formal report to the police.
These new allegations echo earlier claims by Virginia Giuffre, who in 2014 accused Andrew of having sex with her when she was 17, while she was being trafficked by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Andrew has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing and has denied ever meeting Giuffre. Nevertheless, in 2022, he settled a civil lawsuit she brought in the US for a reported £12 million, with no admission of liability. Giuffre died by suicide in 2025, a tragic coda to a case that continues to cast a long shadow over the royal family.
The royal response to Andrew’s situation has been marked by a careful balance of sympathy for victims and a desire to distance the monarchy from scandal. King Charles, who privately owns the Sandringham Estate, will reportedly pay the costs for his brother’s new accommodation. Royal sources told the BBC that Andrew’s move was delayed until after the New Year to avoid the embarrassment of his presence at Sandringham during the traditional family Christmas gathering.
Meanwhile, other members of the royal family have begun to speak out. Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, broke ranks to emphasize the importance of remembering the victims amid the ongoing scandal. Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Edward said, “I think it’s all really important always to remember the victims and who are the victims in all this? A lot of victims in this.”
As for Andrew, he is expected to return to Windsor in the coming weeks to collect his remaining belongings, but his permanent base is now officially in Norfolk. Once renovations at Marsh Farm are complete, he will move there permanently, marking the end of an era at Royal Lodge and the beginning of what many are calling his “royal exile.” The Sandringham Estate, purchased in 1862 by the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), now serves as a refuge for a royal whose future remains uncertain—and whose past continues to haunt both himself and the institution he once represented.
With investigations ongoing and public scrutiny unlikely to relent, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s move from Royal Lodge is more than a change of address—it is a symbol of the monarchy’s attempt to reckon with scandal, accountability, and the imperative to support victims above all else.