Prince Andrew and King Charles Are Vying Against Each Other for Power and Status, Biographer Says
Prince Andrew is reportedly engaged in a “power and status game” with King Charles, according to the author of an upcoming biography about the embattled prince.
The brothers have been locked in a highly publicized dispute over Andrew residing at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, with the king attempting to move him to Frogmore Cottage after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex finally vacated the smaller home. It was reported earlier this month that those plans had allegedly been “quietly shelved.” But biographer Andrew Lownie told the Daily Beast that the home dispute is a smaller quarrel within a larger struggle between the two.
“The problem is there is a contract with the Crown Estate,” Lownie said. “Andrew can stay there on peppercorn rent in return for doing it up. Andrew is digging his heels in because he argues he needs a large house—it has 30 rooms—for when his grandchildren come to stay, and it’s part of a wider power and status game with Charles. Optics don’t look good, but that won’t worry Andrew. I don’t see him ever leaving.”
Andrew has been staying at Royal Lodge while his ex-wife and current housemate Sarah Ferguson recovers after undergoing breast cancer surgery. Lownie’s forthcoming book will cover the couple, as well as Andrew’s links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The author says the tabloids’ relentless pursuit of Harry and Meghan has distracted the public from focusing on Andrew, but he claims that this will not last forever.
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“Andrew is the bigger problem as Harry will disappear, and there will be sympathy for him if and when he and Meghan divorce, but more and more embarrassing stories about Andrew will continue to appear,” Lownie said. Although there recently have been several rumors that Harry and Meghan are allegedly heading toward a split, there hasn’t been any official confirmation from the couple that this is true).
Lownie penned two previous best-selling royal biographies: The Mountbattens and Traitor King. His future work about Andrew will likely be just as popular, as it will shed light on his 20 years in the Royal Navy. The book will also cover Virginia Giuffre’s allegations that Andrew sexually assaulted her when she was a teenage victim of Epstein’s. (Giuffre’s lawsuit against the royal was settled out of court in February 2022.) Andrew has denied these accusations, but Lownie claims the duke “has never done himself any favors when he has tried to explain his time around” the disgraced financier.
