Queen Elizabeth Paid for Police at Prince Andrew’s House

Queen Elizabeth II privately funded a Metropolitan Police team covering Prince Andrew’s house—but the money has been pulled by King Charles III, the new monarch’s biographer told Newsweek.

Robert Hardman was granted extensive access for his new book The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, released in America by Pegasus on Thursday.

And the biography states that Andrew’s home, Royal Lodge, is outside the police cordon that covers Windsor Castle and its grounds, meaning it “requires separate protection.”

Hardman says this was funded by the queen privately after the Jeffrey Epstein scandal forced Andrew to retire from public life, telling Newsweek this meant “paying to cover the bill for the Metropolitan Police.”

The revelation is potentially controversial since Prince Harry sued the government for the right to pay privately to fund his own police bodyguards and lost, though Hardman believes the two situations are different.

The Duke of Sussex was seeking armed police bodyguards to protect him, Meghan Markle and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, while the cover paid for by the queen was attached to the building, Royal Lodge, rather than to Andrew personally.

“Like all royal security,” Hardman told Newsweek, “they don’t comment on it but there are uniform bobbies about because it’s a royal residence. Andrew as an individual, when he drives off to [British supermarket chain] Sainsbury’s he doesn’t get police protection.

“Royal Lodge is a royal residence. If he ceased to be there, then you might get a tenant in, it might be another member of the family doing public duties and it would get Met Police coverage. If not it would have to have private security.

“The queen was picking up the tab. My understanding is that the queen was reimbursing the state, although, ultimately, all this is a matter for the British government, not the Palace.

Newsweek has approached Buckingham Palace and the Metropolitan Police for comment.

Charles has been pushing for Andrew to move into Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s former home, Frogmore Cottage, which is inside the police cordon.

And Hardman wrote in the book that the king has stopped funding the police coverage of Royal Lodge, leaving his brother to either pay himself or move out to Frogmore.

He wrote: “There were expectations, after [the queen’s] death, that [Andrew] would be swiftly moved out of Royal Lodge, the spacious former Windsor home of the Queen Mother.

“Contrary to reports that the King wanted to give it to the Prince of Wales (who, in any case, was not looking for another house move), it is more a question of cost.

“Royal Lodge sits outside the main Windsor security cordon and requires separate protection.

“Since [Andrew’s] withdrawal from public life, this has no longer been regarded as a legitimate public expense and was being funded by the late queen.

“The king’s position, according to one source, is quite simple. His brother can either foot the bill or move inside the Windsor cordon, where the Duke of Sussex’s
old home, Frogmore Cottage, is available.”

Prince Harry has launched two lawsuits against the British Home Office, one seeking to overturn the decision to strip him of his police bodyguards and a second challenging a ruling that he was not entitled to pay for the team privately.

He lost the second case after Metropolitan Police lawyers argued it was wrong to create a system in which officers would be exposed to danger in return for “payment of a fee by a private individual.”

Hardman argued the policing around Royal Lodge was different “because you’re talking about having a security on a known. We’re talking about a residence. Its permanent. It’s something you can do and you can plan for, it’s not pick and mix.”

One issue with Harry’s requests for police protection have been the unpredictable nature of demand, namely that it is not clear how regularly he would need a police team or for how much of the year.

Any perception, though, that Andrew has been offered greater protection than Andrew is potentially controversial owing to the serious nature of the allegations against the Duke of York.

Virginia Giuffre accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was a 17-year-old Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking victim under the control of the New York financier and Ghislaine Maxwell, both friends of Andrew.

The prince was forced to step back from public life in November 2019 after a car crash interview with the BBC and had his honorary titles and patronages revoked in February 2022.

He settled with Giuffre without admitting liability and continues to deny the allegations against him.

A source told Hardman: “The king will not just cast his brother adrift. He is very fond of his nieces [Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie]. Also, Andrew could be far more damaging on the loose outside the loop and at least he hasn’t been disloyal,” says one source.

“But any return to public life is out of the question. His legal problems are not resolved, the public don’t want him and many people still remember his
rudeness last time round.”

Jack Royston is Newsweek‘s chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.

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