King Charles has delivered a fresh snub to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor by avoiding him despite staying only a field away from his brother’s new home at Sandringham, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The King, fresh from the diplomatic success of his State Visit to the USA last week, enjoyed a break at Wood Farm on the royal estate, the property vacated by Andrew only recently.
Ex-Royal nomad Andrew, 66, meanwhile, moved into the refurbished property of Marsh Farm on Easter Monday, where he will live the rest of his days in exile on the Norfolk estate, with all his titles stripped.
While Charles, 77, was at Wood Farm – less than a half mile away from Marsh Farm – only one large field separated the brothers physically near the village of Wolferton.
But in reality, they now inhabit different worlds.
For Charles, as monarch, all the trappings of his station apply as he hob-nobs with heads of state and other royals around the world, including the mercurial Donald Trump.
Charles’s adroit handling of the US President earned him praise on both sides of the Atlantic.
By contrast, Andrew stands disgraced over the lies about his association with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is denied all royal privileges and awaits the outcome of a police investigation into suspected misconduct in public office.
King Charles has drawn a decisive line, insisting that Andrew remove himself from the public scene and leave Royal Lodge in Windsor for Sandringham (pictured together in 2012 at the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee)
Ex-Royal nomad Andrew, 66, meanwhile moved into the refurbished property of Marsh Farm (pictured) on Easter Monday
His situation is so bleak that other royals, including younger brother Prince Edward, are said to fear for his mental health.
Yet according to royal insiders, a new resentment is making Andrew quietly fume with anger in his Norfolk redoubt – the fact that his old home, palatial Royal Lodge in Windsor, still stands empty, months after he was forced to leave it in February.
‘Andrew feels that his departure from Royal Lodge was unnecessarily hasty,’ one royal source told the Mail.
‘From his perspective, it was all done to appease the baying media and didn’t need to be carried out in such a rush before his new accommodation at Marsh Farm was ready. The fact that no one else had taken occupancy of Royal Lodge is the proof of that.
‘Now the King is really rubbing salt into the wounds by continuing to blank Andrew, even though he’s currently staying about a 10-minute walk away across farm tracks.’
Last month, the Mail revealed that Prince Edward’s Easter meeting with Andrew at his Sandringham bolthole was a ‘brotherly welfare check’ because of his fears for Andrew’s mental state.
Edward’s visit to Wood Farm was the first by any member of the Royal family since Andrew went into ‘exile’ in Norfolk.
Royal sources insisted there was ‘no bad blood’ between the brothers, and 62-year-old Edward’s visit to Andrew was ‘borne entirely out of concern’.
Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on 19 February on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he shared confidential material with the convicted child sex offender while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.
Nevertheless, the late Queen Elizabeth’s two youngest sons enjoyed a ‘friendly’ exchange – as well as dinner with Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh, 61 – and there was ‘no real discord’ over the holiday accommodation, said an insider.
Those close to Edward describe him as ‘deeply unsettled’ in recent weeks — worried not just by the lurid allegations that have once again engulfed his elder brother, but by fears for Andrew’s mental and physical state as the police inquiry continues.
Whereas King Charles has drawn a decisive line, insisting that Andrew remove himself from the public scene and leave Royal Lodge in Windsor for Sandringham, Edward is said to be quietly playing the role of mediator.
In public, Edward has only called for people to concentrate on the victims of the Epstein scandal.
In February, before Andrew’s arrest, he was quizzed on the investigation at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
‘I think it’s all really important, always, to remember the victims and who are the victims in all this,’ he said.
