King Charles axes Prince Andrew’s private security from Windsor mansion

Some are speculating it's the King's first step towards turfing his son out of the Royal Lodge entirely.

The disgraced Duke of York began employing a privately funded team of security staff after he lost publicly-funded police protection in 2022 following allegations of sexual abuse.

According to The Sun on Sunday, King Charles has now told the detail that they are no longer needed from November onwards.

A Palace insider reportedly told the publication: “Everyone is speculating this means the Duke will have to leave the Royal Lodge because what other reason could there be to take his security away?

“They are all working the final weeks of their contract till the end of October. It’s not thought anyone is being lined up to replace them.

“It isn’t a secret that the King wants him out.”

The news comes just weeks after it emerged that Prince William had made the decision to remove Queen Camilla’s sister from the royal payroll.

Annabel Elliot had worked as an interior designer for the royal estates for 19 years and also operates as an independent antiques dealer.

She was hired by King Charles as the chief designer of his estates following his 2005 marriage to Queen Camilla. Over the last two decades she has worked extensively on the Duchy holiday cottage portfolio, decorating and updating its period properties in Cornwall, Wales and the Isles of Scilly.

Despite her closeness to the King and Queen, The Telegraph reported last month that Prince William had decided to remove the chief designer from the royal payroll.

Ms Elliot has been paid several hundred thousand pounds for her services over the last two decades, and the Duchy of Cornwall’s annual accounts detail how she had been paid “in the normal course of business and on an arm’s length basis” varying amounts ranging between £19,625 and £82,272 to maintain its rental properties as well as the Duchy offices and its plant nursery.

She was also reimbursed additional amounts each year, ranging from £7,160 to £90,285, for the purchase of furniture, furnishings and retail stock.

Pressure on Prince Andrew continues to mount after the unsealing of hundreds of pages of court documents connected to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

A batch of legal papers released earlier this year detailed how Epstein’s former housekeeper Juan Alessi claimed the duke had daily massages when he spent ‘weeks’ at the paedophile financier’s Florida home.

Juan Alessi, who worked at Epstein’s Palm Beach residence, said both the duke and his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, were friends with Epstein and the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

Previous allegations Andrew sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre three times when she was 17 including during an orgy resurfaced in the court documents.

He strenuously denies the claims and in 2022 paid millions to Ms Giuffre to settle a civil case out of court, saying he never met her.