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It turns out that whilst the public may take a dim view of the disgraced Prince Andrew , the feeling may well be mutual, a royal expert has claimed. Recent polling has shown that 80 percent of Brits want Andrew to give up his home of Royal Lodge, which it has been revealed he doesn't pay rent on. His "cast iron" lease with the Crown Estate demands only "one peppercorn if demanded" for the Grade II listed property, which boasts 30 rooms, in Windsor. Andrew bought a 75-year lease to the home back in 2003, for £1 million - so as long as he is able to keep up with paying for running costs and renovations, he cannot be legally forced to leave - even if his brother, King Charles , would prefer he did, along with the public. Recent weeks have seen Andrew back in the spotlight, in regards his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein , and allegations of sexual assault made against him by the late Virginia Giuffre - which he has consistently denied - amongst other scandals. This culminated in Andrew announcing he would be giving up the use of his royal titles and honours - though for now he still holds them legally - after a 10-minute phone call with his "weary" brother, King Charles. The renewed scrutiny also comes after the publication of an explosive new biography about Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson - Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, by Andrew Lownie. The book paints a mostly unflattering portrait of the former couple, with claims made about Andrew's bad attitude behind closed doors to staff and his attitude to spending the taxpayer's money. Lownie alleges that whilst Andrew was trade envoy for the UK, he often insisted in staying in luxury hotels, rather than embassies, at extra cost to the public. The author said to the i newspaper about Andrew's attitude towards public funding that the King's brother acted as though the "taxpayer owes him everything". "He absolutely pushed the government to cover expenses," the author claimed about Andrew's tenure as a trade envoy. "People rubber-stamped stuff because he was a royal. "The Foreign Office didn’t feel they could do anything. The problem was, he wasn’t properly supervised. No one quite knew who was in charge. "So he was left to run his own show. He likes to get things for free. It’s back to the sense of entitlement – that the taxpayer owes him everything." In 2011, figures showed that £4 million of taxpayer money had been spent covering Andrew's hotels and flights during the decade he held the role. He relinquished the position in 2011, after he was photographed with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a New York park in late 2010. Andrew said in his bombshell sit-down with Newsnight in 2019 that he had visited Epstein in New York to break off the friendship in person, calling himself "too honourable". He also stayed with the disgraced financier during the trip, explaining he chose to do so because it was "convenient," though he admitted that looking back, it was probably the "wrong" decision to make.
