Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein

[Seahorse Wrangler]

5 hours ago, noseybutt said:

I can't imagine the angst that is going to go into all the decisions. Full pageantry is not likely to play well across the Commonwealth. People liked the Queen as a person but the institution not at all.

ETA Or, this:

Since I neither like beans on toast nor can I lift large weights, I fail as both a Brit and an ant.

5 hours ago, viii said:

Oh, a full coronation with all the pomp and circumstance would likely not go down well, considering the UK is in such a housing crisis. However, as a lover of history... my loyalties are torn. 

And the BBC will have another chance to declare "That it has been seventy years since" 

[QuiverFullofBooks]

On 9/20/2022 at 5:30 PM, viii said:

Oh, a full coronation with all the pomp and circumstance would likely not go down well, considering the UK is in such a housing crisis. However, as a lover of history... my loyalties are torn. 

The UK is much better off than in 1953. They won’t have it during winter regardless. And he’s a man, so no spending six months embroidering pearls on silk. It’ll be fine. 

[AmazonGrace]

Daily Fail has found out that Andrew may or may not get kicked out of his mansion

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11237351/Prince-Andrew-ex-wife-Sarah-Ferguson-fear-kicked-Windsor-mansion.html

[rosamundi]

44 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Daily Fail has found out that Andrew may or may not get kicked out of his mansion

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11237351/Prince-Andrew-ex-wife-Sarah-Ferguson-fear-kicked-Windsor-mansion.html

Hmmm. I would say that Royal Lodge would not be very high up the list of properties to lease out.

Firstly they'd have to pay Andrew to buy him out of the lease, which would not be cheap. I can't stand the guy but he has a legal document which says he would be entitled to several million in cash (reducing on an annual basis, but still) were he to be told to leave. It's the same document which says he can't sublet to anyone but his daughters.

Secondly, because of where the property is, it is considered a security risk to let it to anyone other than a member of the Royal Family, and that hasn't changed since the last time the royal property portfolio was reviewed.

[viii]

I have long thought that his lease with Royal Lodge should be terminated. That would have been the perfect home for William and Kate to move to, instead of Adelaide Cottage (which I don't think they would have chosen, if they had known that the queen would die so "suddenly"). I guess kicking people out of leases though sets a dangerous precedent. 

[rosamundi]

5 minutes ago, viii said:

I have long thought that his lease with Royal Lodge should be terminated. That would have been the perfect home for William and Kate to move to, instead of Adelaide Cottage (which I don't think they would have chosen, if they had known that the queen would die so "suddenly"). I guess kicking people out of leases though sets a dangerous precedent. 

Unfortunately he has a solidly watertight legal document on his side which says he can't just be kicked out. He would be entitled to significant compensation were the Crown Estate to terminate the lease.

[fundiewatch]

Fanfic: they take a note from Downton Abbey and move in some group in need. Camilla turns out to be a radical. (This won’t happen but it could…)

[tabitha2]

Also on the fanfic front: Andrew was plotting with Sarah and Diana to put William on the Throne instead of Charles with Andrew as Regnant. 

If nothing else none of these people are exactly masterminds and that’s being very nice.
 

 

 

https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/uk/did-prince-andrew-princess-diana-try-to-plot-against-king-charles-iii/articleshow/94382985.cms

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

I dont give much weight to articles like this but it says if the lease was broken it might cost 7million. This seems like a lot to us but maybe to charles/William this would be cheap to get Andrew moved to a less noticeable situation. And they might feel it's a way to give money to Andrew to limit his begging around elsewhere?

[rosamundi]

6 hours ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

I dont give much weight to articles like this but it says if the lease was broken it might cost 7million. This seems like a lot to us but maybe to charles/William this would be cheap to get Andrew moved to a less noticeable situation. And they might feel it's a way to give money to Andrew to limit his begging around elsewhere?

They have to weigh up what looks worse from a PR/optics point of view. If they bought him out of the lease, they would then be on the front pages of all the tabloids as "giving the disgraced Prince another £7 million". There's no way they could do it quietly.

However, the £7m is not a fixed sum, it reduces annually over the first 25 years of the lease which was signed in 2003, after which no compensation is payable under this clause. If they were to break the lease this year (unlikely, these things take time), he would be owed about £1.7m if it reduces over a standard straight line basis. They may decide that paying him £1.7m to go away is cheap at twice the price.

I'm now riding the ISB although I do have some knowledge of how property leasing works in the UK. While the lease has been signed for 75 years, I would be surprised if there isn't a break clause in it. While the Crown Estate is special, it is still required to operate on a solid commercial footing and a break clause in long leases is so common I'd go so far as to say that it is standard. My money would be on a break clause exercisable by either side after 25 years, which is the point where no part of the £7m is payable. There may be other clauses in the lease entitling him to compensation if the Crown Estate breaks the lease.

And this is Andrew, a man who was wedded to a sense of his own self-importance long before he stood at the altar in Westminster Abbey in 1986. I suspect he wouldn't move quietly out of the Royal Lodge unless a significant sum of money and a new property commensurate with his own sense of his standing is provided for him.

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

Good points.

If it's cheaper than 7mill. Then seems even more plausible and I would think that the PR would be good yeah? Get Andrew further away? Less royal favors. 

 

Now from Andrew's view...he would probably dig in his heels.  There seems to be no end to his self importance. And yet...if you're broke...and no mummy protecting you and no more high profile "celebrity" life discount...who knows maybe he may fine him self considering options that were unthinkable a year ago.

Oh to be a fly on the wall to hear what Charles and Will are thinking about and saying to Andrew.

[rosamundi]

9 hours ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

Good points.

If it's cheaper than 7mill. Then seems even more plausible and I would think that the PR would be good yeah? Get Andrew further away? Less royal favors. 

 

Now from Andrew's view...he would probably dig in his heels.  There seems to be no end to his self importance. And yet...if you're broke...and no mummy protecting you and no more high profile "celebrity" life discount...who knows maybe he may fine him self considering options that were unthinkable a year ago.

Oh to be a fly on the wall to hear what Charles and Will are thinking about and saying to Andrew.

I'm not going to lie, I will be interested to see what comes out of the wider property review within the Royal estate. I do hope the Crown Estate and the Royal Family weigh up the various issues and come down on the side of "well, you're not a working Royal, you don't need the Royal Lodge, a Gardener's Cottage, the Chapel Lodge, six Lodge Cottages, and police security accommodation and 40 hectares of land, you can move into Adelaide Cottage and the new Prince and Princess of Wales get Royal Lodge. Here's £1.7m, which should sweeten the deal."

Whether he is sensible enough to go quietly remains to be seen and I await developments. I would also be intrigued to know a whole slew of things about his finances, because I suspect there's enough there to bury him if it was widely known.

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

I'm very curious too. I'm nosey! 

 

Plus I think he's disgusting and should get more blow back.

I used to have a soft spot for Fergie but at this point I can't help but see both of them as lazy sleazy moochers

Edited September 25, 2022 by WatchingTheTireFireBurn
Andrew stinks

[Jackie3]

On 9/23/2022 at 11:39 AM, fundiewatch said:

Fanfic: they take a note from Downton Abbey and move in some group in need. Camilla turns out to be a radical. (This won’t happen but it could…)

Never going to happen. The lower classes aren't welcome. The Royals also don't care enough about groups in need to allow such at thing to happen.

Look at Balmoral. You could do a huge amount of good with that property. Yet there are plans to turn it into a public memorial for the Queen. Not a school for the disabled, not a rehab center. . . but a huge useless memorial for a dead monarch.

I think it's very poor optics for the royals to continue to house a rapist in one of their buildings. Doing something like that contributes to public sentiment against them.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Jackie3

[sndral]

On 9/25/2022 at 6:14 AM, rosamundi said:

I'm not going to lie, I will be interested to see what comes out of the wider property review within the Royal estate. I do hope the Crown Estate and the Royal Family weigh up the various issues and come down on the side of "well, you're not a working Royal, you don't need the Royal Lodge, a Gardener's Cottage, the Chapel Lodge, six Lodge Cottages, and police security accommodation and 40 hectares of land, you can move into Adelaide Cottage and the new Prince and Princess of Wales get Royal Lodge. Here's £1.7m, which should sweeten the deal."

Whether he is sensible enough to go quietly remains to be seen and I await developments. I would also be intrigued to know a whole slew of things about his finances, because I suspect there's enough there to bury him if it was widely known.

I’m not sure the Wales will be in any hurry to move into the behemoth that is Royal Lodge for a couple of reasons. First, there was the expensive refurb of their KP apartment, then the tenants w/ a lease were kicked out of Anmer and another expensive refurb was done for the Wales there, now they’ve basically abandoned KP & intend to mostly live at Adelaide Cottage while nearby Windsor has no Royal using it. Although there are valid reasons for each move/refurb & much was paid for from non public funds, I think it would look really bad PR wise if they moved into yet another grand mansion especially if it needed a refurb given the rocky economic situation in the UK right now. Assuming the Wales don’t want to move into Royal Lodge for PR or personal reasons, who’s left to live there if Andrew is booted?
I too have long been curious about Andrew’s finances. If his finances are anything like Sarah’s, then there’s a lot of dirt to be uncovered. Years ago one of her former associates did time due to his involvement w/ Sarah’s schemes. His book about it is an interesting read. https://www.amazon.com/Fergie-Secret-Life-Allan-Starkie/dp/0380730804

I wandered over to this thread because of the Ghislaine Maxwell interview where she contradicted Andrew’s claims in his legal filings that they weren’t close - here’s a link to the Daily Fail ‘article’ about that https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11321179/Prince-Andrew-spotted-Range-Rover-ex-Ghislaine-Maxwells-dear-friend-chat.html. The article attributes Andrew & Sarah’s unhappy faces in the photos to the Ghislaine news, but to me it just looks like they are having an argument. My ISB is they are likely arguing because Andrew’s bank of mommy ATM has been shut down by Charles and the pair are yet again in financial hot water, although I suppose that depends on how much money the Queen left to Andrew from her private fortune.

[viii]

2 minutes ago, sndral said:

I think it would look really bad PR wise if they moved into yet another grand mansion especially if it needed a refurb given the rocky economic situation in the UK right now.

To be fair, this has yet to stop the Wales. They don't seem to care about PR when it comes to their multitude of homes and their flying. 

[Coconut Flan]

The last rumor I saw this morning was they were moving into Windsor Castle itself in a few months to a year.

[sndral]

1 hour ago, viii said:

To be fair, this has yet to stop the Wales. They don't seem to care about PR when it comes to their multitude of homes and their flying. 

True, which is why the move to the relatively modest Adelaide cottage without a refurb. surprised me, although maybe it was planned as a temporary thing like when they were in Nott Cott while waiting for their KP apartment to be gutted & renovated.

[viii]

I don't think they would have ever moved to Adelaide Cottage if they had known the Queen would die in September. It made little sense at the time and it makes even less sense now. A move to Windsor Castle makes sense, I suppose, but it's still pretty inconvenient. 

[hoipolloi]

2 hours ago, viii said:

A move to Windsor Castle makes sense, I suppose, but it's still pretty inconvenient. 

Windsor Castle canʻt need that much renovation, even for the picky Wales family. There should already be sufficient mod cons, including a nursery suite, after decades of QE2ʻs regular stays, not to mention the regular staff of 150 or so.

I hope these royals read the room and the country. This doesn't seem like a good time to get snippy or entitled about grace and favour residences.

Edited October 17, 2022 by hoipolloi
Typo

[Jackie3]

4 hours ago, viii said:

I don't think they would have ever moved to Adelaide Cottage if they had known the Queen would die in September. It made little sense at the time and it makes even less sense now. A move to Windsor Castle makes sense, I suppose, but it's still pretty inconvenient. 

From what I've read, most royals consider Windsor Castle to be their real home. BP is the "office" where work takes place. It's often pretty empty on the weekends.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

16 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

Windsor Castle canʻt need that much renovation, even for the picky Wales family. There should already be sufficient mod cons, including a nursery suite, after decades of QE2ʻs regular stays, not to mention the regular staff of 150 or so.

I hope these royals read the room and the country. This doesn't seem like a good time to get snippy or entitled about grace and favour residences.

I feel like it might be the opposite; 30 years’ worth of “eh, we’ll renovate in the next reign.” Charles supposedly doesn’t like Windsor (those damn airplanes!), so it might make sense to go straight to William. 

[Manda]

17 hours ago, Jackie3 said:

From what I've read, most royals consider Windsor Castle to be their real home. BP is the "office" where work takes place. It's often pretty empty on the weekends.

Do you really mean monarchs?  I don't think most royals think Windsor is their home.  

[viii]

30 minutes ago, Manda said:

Do you really mean monarchs?  I don't think most royals think Windsor is their home.  

Exactly - it's monarchs. And I don't think most monarchs consider Windsor to be home, just one of their many homes. Philip and Elizabeth debated about living in Clarence House after she became queen, I believe, but it was turned down because the monarch always lives in Buckingham Palace. 

Charles is lucky they are renovating BP right now so he doesn't have to live there, as rumor suggests he'd rather not. 

[AmazonGrace]

17 hours ago, Jackie3 said:

From what I've read, most royals consider Windsor Castle to be their real home. BP is the "office" where work takes place. It's often pretty empty on the weekends.

Oh we think that the royals do work now? I can't keep up.