The former prince is residing on the Sandringham estate.
New reports have suggested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor isn’t living the life the public are being led to believe he is. The former Duke of York, 66, has been supposedly living an isolated life on the King’s private Sandringham estate. This is following the release of a new batch of Epstein files in January, which showed that Andrew continued his friendship with the late financier after he was sent to prison for child sex offences.
However, author Andrew Lownie, who wrote Entitled, The Rise and Fall of the House of York, has claimed the disgraced royal has been given the freedom to discreetly come and go from the private estate, adding that he recently took a trip to France. Discussing the reports was News Corp columnist Louise Roberts, who argued that while Andrew has more freedom than people are aware of, King Charles is likely keeping him close to monitor him, fearing he could cause further damage to the institution.
Gabriella Power, presenter of News24, formerly known as Sky News Australia, described previous reports of Andrew’s supposed isolated life as a “carefully crafted illusion”.
Louise explained: “Andrew Lownie is basically saying it’s a bit of an establishment fudge that Andrew is sort of pretty much got his normal life, albeit not publicly. He can come and go as he pleases from Sandringham.
“He still rides his horse around. He’s still got his passport. Apparently, he went to France to visit a horse stud. He’s got a fair bit of freedom.
“I’m not that surprised he’s still got his passport because although he was arrested on his 66th birthday he’s never been charged.
“He’s been released under investigation pending further inquiries. In a way, Charles sort of has to keep him on a leash, albeit a longer one, just to see what he’s up to because he’s still a loose cannon.”
Louise suggested that Andrew could “go rogue” and decide to take part in another interview, branding him “capable of anything”.
She added: “They do have to keep him within close distance. Publicly he’s seen to be ostracised, but really in private he’s still there so they can keep an eye on him.
“I don’t really think Charles wants a lot to do with him, but at the end of the day, it’s still his brother. So, better to keep him within sort of distance so we can see what he’s up to.”
Gabriella questioned how the public would react to the bombshell claim that Prince Andrew is still allowed to travel, prompting Louise to describe it as a “bad look”.
She explained: “I think it’s a bad bad look because Andrew still has to answer, not only for what happened with Virginia Giuffre, I don’t think he’ll ever really get his comeuppance on that, but also, he was in a very powerful government position and he’s been accused of trading information to Jeffrey Epstein.”
Louise went on: “If he’s still got this pampered lifestyle in the background, it looks difficult for Charles because on one hand he’s got the public who want Andrew to face the music, but at the same time, he’s got the establishment, I imagine, who is saying we don’t want a trial.”
