King Charles III has laid off younger brother Prince Andrew’s 10-person private security team, according to a new report.
Charles has reportedly been funding Andrew’s guards since 2022 when he was stripped of his royal titles and lost publicly funded protection. British outlet The Sun, which published the report about the firings on Sunday, August 18, speculated that Charles may ask Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson to move out of the residence as well.
Andrew, 64, lives with Ferguson at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, a 31-room mansion where his private security team was stationed. Sunday’s report claimed that Andrew’s guards will finish out their contracts, set to end in October, and will not return to the residence. The future of Andrew’s security team is unclear.
Us Weekly has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
Andrew has been a disgraced royal family member since his involvement with the late billionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein went public. In late 2019, the Duke of York stepped back from his role in the royal family after Virginia Giuffre came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Andrew. As questions about his relationship with Epstein continued to rise, Andrew attempted to save face with a BBC interview that caused more harm than good. (The interview has since been rehashed in the February Netflix movie Scoop and forthcoming Prime Video miniseries A Very Royal Scandal.)
In November 2019, Andrew sat down with journalist Emily Maitlis and addressed his friendship with Epstein and alleged connection to accuser Giuffre. Andrew noted that he has “no recollection of ever meeting” her during the interview. “It just never happened,” he stated at the time.
Nearly two years later, Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Andrew, alleging that he raped and sexually abused her at age 17. He denied the accusations and demanded a jury trial. Andrew and Giuffre eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
The report of Charles cutting off the Duke of York’s private security is the latest update in Andrew’s battle to continue living at Royal Lodge. In May, it was reported that Charles was looking to evict his brother over $503,000 Andrew allegedly neglected to pay for the Windsor home’s upkeep.
The threat of eviction was once again brought up in The Sun’s report on Sunday. The publication also reported that Charles could, in theory, completely cut off Andrew and refuse to fund the Duke of York’s expensive lifestyle.
