By Marisa Laudadio
3:20pm PST, Feb 17, 2026
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Fearing more volatility as revelations about brother
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's relationship with predator
Jeffrey Epstein continue to emerge,
King Charles III has enacted a plan he hopes can mitigate the harm the former Duke of York has unleashed on Britain's royal family.
Keep reading to learn more…
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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has haunted Britain's royal family for years. But in recent weeks, he's invited more scrutiny fueled by the release of photos and correspondence made public by the U.S. Justice Department as part of the Epstein files. Among the latest troves are documents suggesting the former Prince Andrew invited Epstein to dinner at Buckingham Palace in 2010 — a month after Epstein was released from jail following a solicitation conviction — promising "lots of privacy." There were also images of the ex royal kneeling over a woman on the floor of what appears to be Epstein's New York City townhouse. Sources close to King Charles III told
The Times of London that the recent revelations have been "shocking and distressing," with royal sources describing Mountbatten-Windsor as "unstable."
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In recent weeks, moving trucks were seen at Royal Lodge — the 30-room Grade II-listed mansion near Windsor Castle that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor called home for more than two decades. The Times reported that the former Duke of York, who was forced out of the residence by King Charles III, left sooner than planned and has now relocated, temporarily, to Wood Farm on the monarch's Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, while renovations are completed at Marsh Farm, a nearby five-bedroom property where he will permanently move before Easter. "The king feels he has no other option than to provide for his brother, who will be privately funded on a private estate," a palace source told The Times. "Every time he's tried to support himself by independent means, it has led to greater trouble. Containing him is the hope."
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According to one of King Charles III's friends, the monarch expedited brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's move to Sandringham because the king was appalled by the former Duke of York's continued daily horse rides around Windsor Great Park in front of photographers. "The king is acutely aware of the public feeling. He doesn't need to be heckled" — as he has been at recent public engagements — "to understand the mood of the nation," the friend told The Times. "Accelerating him out of Royal Lodge … was another nod to show he gets it. A plan made is not the same as a plan enacted, and the king wanted that plan enacted ASAP." According to the friend, "The king feels that keeping his brother out of the public gaze and away from any kind of public expense is the right thing to do. Andrew is no longer a burden on the public purse and the king has done all he can to remove him from the public gaze, but the reality is he can't remove him from the public consciousness."
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The situation reached a breaking point in late 2025 following the posthumous release of Jeffrey Epstein victim
Virginia Giuffre's memoir, which renewed allegations that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor abused her in 2001 — claims he's denied. Leaked emails also indicated the royal had not actually severed contact with Epstein in 2010 as he publicly insisted in a disastrous 2019 interview with the
BBC's Newsnight. Amid growing scrutiny, King Charles III took the unprecedented step of stripping his brother of his remaining titles, including "Prince," "Duke of York" and "His Royal Highness" styling. The monarch further ordered his brother to surrender his lease on Royal Lodge.
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King Charles III has accepted he will need to use his own private funds to pay for brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor indefinitely. The Times reported that the monarch provides his brother with a "modest stipend" that Andrew uses to cover his staff and living costs. Sources further told The Times that suggestions the former Duke of York is "sitting on a large source of funds from his late mother [Queen Elizabeth II] or the sale of former homes is wide off the mark."
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No one seems to know where all of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's money went that he must now rely on King Charles III to provide for him. The Times noted that in 2007, the former Duke of York sold Sunninghill Park, the 12-bedroom Berkshire mansion Queen Elizabeth II gifted him when he married Sarah Ferguson in 1986, to a Kazakh billionaire for more than $20 million. In 2022, the former Prince Andrew sold a seven-bedroom chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, for a reported $23 million. The reported $12 million civil lawsuit settlement he struck in 2022 with Virginia Giuffre was paid by his late mother and older brother, according to U.K. reports.
