Kate Middleton and Prince William have briefly moved nearer to disgraced royal Andrew Mountbatten Windsor forward of his departure from Royal Lodge.
The Telegraph reported on Saturday, November 1, that the Prince and Princess of Wales formally moved in to Forest Lodge in Windsor Nice Park, after making a choice to depart their earlier dwelling, Adelaide Cottage, earlier this 12 months. The royals had been initially purported to settle into Forest Lodge by Christmas, however building was completed sooner than deliberate. (Prince William and Kate are mother and father to a few youngsters: Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7.)
The eight-room Georgian mansion boasts much more facilities than their earlier four-room residence, together with six loos, a sunken fence for privateness, a tennis courtroom and a big pond.
Royal professional Rebecca English informed the Each day Mail in August that the couple meant to remain at Forest Lodge on a everlasting foundation, even after William is finally topped as King.
Whereas Prince William and Middleton might have discovered their “ceaselessly dwelling,” the transfer has briefly introduced them nearer to Mountbatten Windsor. Prince William’s uncle at the moment lives solely two miles away at Royal Lodge.
Mountbatten Windsor’s residency at Royal Lodge has proved to be massively controversial within the U.Okay. as his connection to late financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein continues to dominate headlines. Buckingham Palace introduced on Thursday, October 30, that King Charles III was starting the method of eradicating his brother’s “type, titles and honors” as the previous Duke of York. (Mountbatten Windsor has denied wrongdoing concerning his connection to Epstein and subsequent claims he sexually assaulted no less than one underage lady, Virginia Giuffre, when she was 17 years previous in 2001. The previous Duke and Giuffre reached a monetary settlement in 2022.)
As a part of this course of, the Palace confirmed that Mountbatten Windsor would give up the lease of his present dwelling, Royal Lodge, and transfer to a Sandringham property that’s privately funded by the King.
“Prince Andrew will now be often called Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to this point, offered him with authorized safety to proceed in residence,” Buckingham Palace spokesperson informed Us Weekly on Thursday. “Formal discover has now been served to give up the lease and he’ll transfer to various personal lodging. These censures are deemed vital, however the truth that he continues to disclaim the allegations in opposition to him.”
Mountbatten Windsor’s residing scenario had been seen as a lingering drawback for the royal household since he secured a really favorable lease for Royal Lodge in 2003. As a part of this settlement, Mountbatten Windsor paid £1 million for the 75-year lease, plus agreed to contribute £7.5 million for refurbishments that had been accomplished in 2005 and a further $2.5 million for a lease buyout. (Mountbatten Windsor by no means outright owned the property, as Royal Lodge is managed by the royal household’s actual property overseers, the Crown Property.)
The settlement was known as a “peppercorn lease” as a result of it successfully meant that Mountbatten Windsor would solely should pay a nominal sum — or nothing in any respect — in lease after his preliminary upfront value. London’s The Occasions reported in October 2025 that Mountbatten Windsor had certainly lived at Royal Lodge with out paying vital lease for 22 years.
Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales in October 2025. Chris Jackson/Getty Photographs
There isn’t a official timeline but for Mountbatten Windsor to maneuver out of Royal Lodge. His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, has additionally lived at Royal Lodge since 2008, regardless of her divorce from Mountbatten Windsor 12 years earlier. She’s going to now have to search out new lodging as nicely.
In the meantime, Us realized that Prince William totally supported King Charles’ choice to take punitive motion in opposition to Mountbatten Windsor. There have been longstanding experiences of friction between the prince and his uncle, with William favoring robust motion to be taken over Mountbatten Windsor’s friendship with Epstein and his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. (Maxwell was convicted of kid intercourse trafficking costs in June 2022 and sentenced to serve 240 months in federal jail. Epstein died by suicide at age 66 in 2019 following his arrest on federal intercourse trafficking costs.)
In the event you or somebody is a human trafficking sufferer, contact the Nationwide Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
