King Charles bans disgraced Prince Andrew from Buckingham Palace amid Epstein sex scandal, claims source
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: King Charles is evicting the disgraced Prince Andrew from Buckingham Palace. The former Duke of York, 62, will no longer be permitted to have an office in the castle that serves as the royal residence, sources told The Sun.
The disgraced prince quit the Royal Family nearly three years ago due to his associations with the sex trafficking pair Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. After he retired from public service in 2020, it is said that the late Queen Elizabeth permitted him to keep a small staff and use the palace. But now under his brother's regime, Prince Andrew won't even be able to use Buckingham Palace as a corresponding address. "Any presence at the Palace is officially over," a source told the outlet. "The King has made it clear. He isn't a working royal. He's on his own."
READ MORE
The expulsion is the most recent in a line of penalties that have followed Andrew's attempt to deny knowing Virginia Giuffre, his longtime accuser who claims that Epstein and Maxwell forced her to have sex with him. He paid Giuffre a $12 million settlement in February after she sued him for sexual abuse, even though he hasn't acknowledged the claims yet.
December 21, 2022, saw the appointment of Queen Consort Camilla to the role of Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, which Andrew formerly held and cherished. He also lost his military and royal titles and was not allowed to wear his military uniform to his mother’s funeral. Not long after her passing, King Charles informed his brother that he would never return to royal life. The king reportedly terminated Andrew's round-the-clock security service last month. As far as is known, Andrew will retain the 31-bed Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate for the time being.
Despite the palace exile, Andrew is expected to spend Christmas dinner with King Charles and the rest of the royal family at Sandringham, which will also include Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson for the first time in 30 years. The 73-year-old King will also honor the late Queen Elizabeth II in his inaugural Christmas Day speech.