The Disgraced Former Prince Andrew in Exile at Sandringham’s Wood Farm

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s late mom and father would have been heartbroken and appalled by the revelations concerning the former prince’s unsavory relationship with the convicted American pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein. With the newest tranche of more and more sordid correspondence and images of Andrew this previous week, the King evicted his youthful brother from Royal Lodge, the 30-room residence close to Windsor Castle the place he had lived for the previous 23 years. Andrew’s departure forward of schedule was prompted by images of him on horseback smiling and waving at passersby in Windsor Great Park. Five months earlier, Charles had stripped Andrew of his Duke of York and prince titles.

Andrew is briefly in seclusion at Wood Farm on the King’s 20,000-acre Sandringham Estate in Norfolk till renovations are accomplished on his new residence at Sandringham’s Marsh Farm, a modest brick home that’s worlds faraway from the pale class of Royal Lodge.

Were it not for the disgrace surrounding Andrew and blighting the royal household, Wood Farm might need been the very best place for him. I wrote about its suitability in comparison with alternate Sandringham properties in Royals Extra final November 1: Neither Prince Nor Duke: Andrew Hits Rock Bottom. Friends inform me that different royal members of the family had their very own objections to him dwelling at Wood Farm. During pheasant and partridge taking pictures season, they get pleasure from staying there and internet hosting lunches.

Suffering, compassion, and humility

Wood Farm’s compelling historical past may educate Andrew one thing about struggling, compassion, and humility. Its story started greater than a century in the past when the youngest of King George V and Queen Mary’s six youngsters, Prince John—identified within the household as “Johnnie”— lived there for 2 years till he died at age 13 in January 1919 after a violent epileptic seizure. He has typically been described because the “Lost Prince,” deserted by his household at Wood Farm due to his disabilities. But paperwork from the Royal Archives inform a special story, together with images printed after his loss of life.