Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the 65-year-old brother of King Charles III, has left the Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle earlier than expected and is now living on the king’s Sandringham estate in eastern England. British reports say he is staying temporarily at Wood Farm Cottage while his permanent accommodation on the estate undergoes repairs.
The relocation follows the U.S. Department of Justice’s release of large volumes of documents in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, which revived scrutiny of his past association with Epstein. Charles announced in October that Andrew would be stripped of his remaining royal titles amid ongoing revelations about those links; at that time, Andrew had been expected to remain at Royal Lodge, where he had lived for more than 20 years, until the spring.
Thames Valley Police said they are investigating an allegation that Epstein flew a second woman to Britain to have sex with Andrew. A lawyer for the alleged victim told the BBC the encounter is said to have occurred in 2010 at Royal Lodge. These claims are separate from the long-standing allegation by Virginia Giuffre, who said she was trafficked to Britain to have sex with Andrew in 2001 when she was 17; Giuffre died by suicide last year. Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein and has not publicly responded to the newly reported allegation.
Andrew’s name appears multiple times in roughly three million pages of documents released by U.S. officials. One email dated March 23, 2011, referenced a lawyer for an exotic dancer who alleged that Epstein and Andrew asked the woman to take part in a threesome at Epstein’s Florida home. The lawyer said the woman had been paid $2,000, not the $10,000 she was promised, and accused the men of having “prevailed upon her to engage in various sex acts” during an encounter alleged to have occurred in early 2006; the lawyer offered a confidential settlement of $250,000. Other correspondence reportedly shows Epstein offering to arrange a date with a 26-year-old Russian woman and a man signing off as “A” suggesting dinner in London, either at a restaurant or Buckingham Palace. The released documents do not, by themselves, prove wrongdoing by many of the people named, and the presence of well-known names has been linked to Epstein’s wide network.
The Royal Lodge residence had been a longstanding point of dispute between the king and his brother. After Charles acceded in 2022 he sought to relocate Andrew to a smaller house on the Windsor Castle estate; Andrew resisted, citing a lease on Royal Lodge that reportedly runs through 2078. Criticism intensified in October as lawmakers and the public questioned the lease terms on the 30-room house and its surrounding grounds, which are managed by the Crown Estate.
The Crown Estate comprises properties held in trust and managed for the public benefit, while Sandringham is privately owned by the king. Andrew’s temporary move to Sandringham places him on the monarch’s private estate while his long-term housing situation is resolved amid continuing scrutiny.
