Prince Andrew has been given an eviction deadline, meaning that if he can't find £2million to carry out repairs at , he will need to leave the property, a source has said.
The, 64, is said to have fallen foul of the Crown Estate's lease rules which say that repairs must be made to the property in regular intervals otherwise they can pull the plug. A source said Andrew will have until the end of this year to prove he has the financial resources to refurbish the Grade II listed house in Windsor Great Park in Berkshire or he will be evicted.
This is said to be "the closest Andrew has come to being evicted" since stepping down as a working royal two years ago, it has been claimed. The source added that the Duke was sent "into a spin" after his brother, King Charles, decided to pull all private funding, including a 10-man security team that will leave the property this month.
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"Andrew has been asked to prove that he has the financial resources in place to conduct the necessary repairs to Royal Lodge," the source told the . "If he is unable to do that by the end of the year, formal discussions will be held with the Crown Estate about how best to move forward.
"It's the closest Andrew has come to being evicted since he was asked to step down as a working royal two years ago." The Duke has a lease with the Crown Estate to remain in the £30million home until 2078.
Under the terms of the lease, Andrew is under strict instructions about what he can and cannot do to the 30-room house. For example, the agreement "requires that the character of the property be maintained as a Royal Park and forest."
The contract also requires the Prince to be responsible for the refurbishment costs in order to restore and upkeep the historic building. Royal Lodge is currently in a sad state of neglect - with paint peeling from the walls and moss growing on the exterior. Escalating repair costs are said to have already exceeded £2million for necessary renovations needed on the property.
The lease includes clauses related to repainting the property's external walls every five years with 'two coats of paint' from 2008 and redecorating inside every seven years from 2010. "The Duke has fallen behind on necessary repairs," added the source. "He needs to prove to the Crown Estate that he has the funds to do this, or the intention of doing this, within the next few months or they could start eviction proceedings."
Contractors began renovating parts of Royal Lodge in June with scaffolding and skips erected within the grounds of Prince Andrew's beloved property. However, sources say it wasn't enough to satisfy the estate and disrepair remains. The Duke of York is said to have paid more than £200,000 for roof repairs on the royal mansion last summer - a sum which was described as an "interim payment".
Royal Lodge is close to Windsor Castle. It was built in the mid-seventeenth century and did not have a permanent royal resident until the 1930s when The Duke and Duchess of York were granted it by King George V.
continued to use the lodge after King George VI's death in 1952 and died there on March 30, 2002 with the Queen by her side. Following the Queen Mother's death, the property was leased to in 2003 and he was required to pay for any and all renovations himself. It is thought that the costs of the improvements rose above £7.5 million.
Along with the main house, the lease included the Gardener's Cottage, the Chapel Lodge, six Lodge Cottages, police security accommodation and a whopping 40 hectares of land. Following the renovations, Prince Andrew moved in to the property with his two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in 2004.
