By Molly Claire Goddard
10:05am PST, Dec 17, 2025
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According to
Andrew Lownie, author of
Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, King Charles III offered Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor cash to end his 75-year lease. "It has been kept very quiet, but Charles has actually paid him large sums of money to move out of Royal Lodge, seeing that the optics look pretty terrible if he was there, so he is not short of a bob or two," the expert
told the "Sunday Morning" podcast.
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Despite being stripped of his titles due to his connection to Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew Lownie doesn't think the former Duke of York needs money. "He has been doing business deals for a long time now, about 30 years, with all sorts of regimes and characters, so he is not short of a penny," he said. "I don't think there is any worry about Andrew being able to afford his lifestyle."
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The Crown Estate disputed the claim that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received money for breaking his lease. "Our initial assessment is that while the extent of end of tenancy dilapidations and repairs required are not out of keeping with a tenancy of this duration, they will mean in all likelihood that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor will not be owed any compensation for early surrender of the lease, once dilapidations are taken into account," a spokesperson said in
a statement. "Before this position can be fully validated, however, a full and thorough assessment must be undertaken post-occupation by an expert in dilapidation."
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While some think Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor isn't desperate for funds, royal expert Richard Eden thinks otherwise. "I think all of us would miss half a million pounds. Remember in the future he is going to be dependent on King Charles III's generosity. He's going to be living at the king's private estate, Sandringham, and given an allowance by his brother the king," the reporter claimed.
