Prince Andrew is set to be thrown into chaos as King Charles removes his security funding. The Duke of York will have to pay for his own protection at his 30-room home in Windsor after decades of receiving private funding from the Crown.
According to The Telegraph, Andrew will have to find his own money to front the costs of security and upkeep at the Royal Lodge which is expected to cost a small fortune.
He has no clear income, and the house is said to be in need of extensive renovations. It comes after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged police to launch a fresh investigation into Prince Andrew following claims made in newly released US court documents.
The documents are in relation to the 2015 defamation case brought against Ghislaine Maxwell by Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of abusing her as a teenager.
She claimed the Duke had groped a 20-year-old student at Epstein’s New York home in 2001 and sexually assaulted and raped Ms Giuffre three times when she was 17, including on one occasion in London.
Prince Andrew has always vehmently denied the claims. Sir Keir said: “I think wherever there’s a complaint made it’s inevitable that it should be looked at.
“I mean, we have to start with the victims here and look at what allegations have been made. I’ve seen the headlines on this, not the detail… but frankly whoever it is, where there are allegations, credible allegations made, then of course they should be looked at.”
Sir Keir had worked as director of public prosecutions from 2008 and 2013, during which time Ms Guiffre released the photograph of her with Andrew.
The image showed him with his arm around her waist, with an interview with a newspaper describing how she had been trafficked to London where she was first introduced to the royal.
Documents released this week contain interviews given under oath by Maxwell, Mrs Giuffre and a woman named Johanna Sjoberg.
Also in the files are connected emails, including between Epstein and Maxwell. The Duke of York features in the documents, as well as former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
The Duke was seen as recently as Christmas Day walking from Sandringham to church with the King and other members of the Royal Family, just months after appearing publicly at Charles’s coronation in his garter robes.
He reached a multi-million-pound settlement with Ms Giuffre in 2022 after she claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17. However, the reemergence of allegations is likely to be seen as a setback, potentially jeopardising hopes of public appearances.
