The former prince is worried he will not be able to meet potential legal costs after he was arrested and later released under investigation on allegations of misconduct in a public office
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is anxious he will not be able to pay potential legal fees(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Former prince Andrew is growing “increasingly anxious” that he will not be able to pay his legal fees after the King told him he must meet the costs himself, royal sources have revealed.
The disgraced former Duke of York has been in hiding after being arrested last month by detectives from Thames Valley police investigating allegations of misconduct in a public office. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, who was released pending investigation after being interviewed for 11 hours, has not been given any indication as to whether he will have to return for interview.
A royal source said: “The financial burden on him, having to attend interviews and take the relevant advice are a huge concern for him and one which he is growing increasingly anxious about. The King has made clear that Andrew is now a private citizen and must meet the relevant costs on his own.”
The former Duke of York was arrested last month(Image: Getty)
However, sources do suggest that while the King has privately made clear that no taxpayer funds would be used, he may be put in the “uncomfortable position” of feeling moved to assist his brother.
The source said: “Much like the King has supplemented Andrew’s living arrangements by housing him on his private estate in Norfolk, if he (Andrew) could not pay his legal fees then the King may find himself in the rather uncomfortable position of being asked to pay for them privately.”
When the former Duke of York was arrested by Thames Valley police on February 19 – his 66th birthday – the King issued a statement saying that “the law must take its course” after expressing his “deepest concern” over the arrest, which came after millions of files were released by the US Department of Justice in relation to the Epstein scandal.
King Charles evicted his disgraced brother from his former Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The former prince became the first senior royal in modern history to be arrested in nearly 400 years. King Charles I was taken prisoner in 1647 after being defeated in the English Civil War by parliamentary forces. He was later put on trial and found guilty of high treason. Following his release from being questioned, Andrew was pictured in an extraordinary image slouched in the back of a Range Rover as he left Aylsham police station in Norfolk.
A senior palace source suggested it would be a “concern” for the King if he were to be asked to meet the costs due to public feeling over the allegations Andrew faces. The source said: “The King is adamant that public funds will not be used to fund any legal costs for Andrew, but if he did meet the costs himself, there is certainly a risk that the public would not view that favourably. It’s a very difficult and delicate situation.”
After stripping Andrew of his titles and honours in October 2025, over continued allegations surrounding his brother, Charles also evicted him from his 30 room Royal Lodge mansion on the Windsor estate.
The former Prince Andrew was photographed with his sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre on March 10, 2001, at the London townhouse of his friend Ghislaine Maxwell(Image: US District Court – Southern Dis)
Not wishing to see his brother homeless, the King arranged for him to be housed in a four bedroom cottage on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. After he was kicked out of his Royal Lodge home, which was searched by police for five days after his arrest, it emerged this week that Andrew is giving up the lease on another Crown Estate property.
The disgraced former royal has asked to end his lease on East Lodge, near his former home at Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, with documents seen by the BBC showing he has been paying an annual rent of almost £13,000.
The 19th-Century, single-storey, thatched cottage was the lodge near the much bigger Sunninghill Park, which was gifted to Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson as a wedding present by the late Queen Elizabeth two years after their marriage in 1986.
The sale of Sunninghill Park in 2007 for £15m was controversial – with the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s president buying it for £3m more than the asking price.
Andrew’s finances have long been shrouded in mystery. In 2022 he settled a civil sexual-assault lawsuit for £12million, brought by his sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre, despite preciously claiming he had no recollection of ever meeting her.
In his updated biography of the King, royal author Robert Hardman revealed in November 2024 that the Keeper of the Privy Purse, who looks after the royal finances, was instructed to end the personal allowance and security payments for Prince Andrew.
Sources say the total, amounting to millions of pounds a year, is in keeping with the King’s desire to not have any dealing with his brother’s potential legal fees. Andrew receives around £20,000-a-year Royal Navy pension from his 22-year military career from 1979 to 2001.
Following his 66th birthday in February 2026, he also became eligible to claim a state pension of approximately £7,000–£9,500 annually, as he paid National Insurance contributions during his service. Detectives have asked Andrew’s former close protection officers to “consider carefully whether anything they saw or heard” during their service could be relevant to the investigation into Epstein and his associates.
The Metropolitan Police said it is working with counterparts in the US to establish whether London airports had been used to “facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation”. Buckingham Palace did not comment.
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