Reports suggest that the royal family of Abu Dhabi has kindly extended an offer to Prince Andrew, providing him with a luxurious palace retreat as he faces increasing calls to vacate his Royal Lodge residence.
The 65-year-old prince is reportedly in discussions with King Charles, 76, about leaving the opulent 30-bedroom mansion. This comes amid a wave of public criticism over his rent-free lease and his connections to Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Andrew and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, are believed to have access to a splendid mansion in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, which they can use at their convenience.
This mansion is said to be a gift from the UAE’s ruling royal family, the House of Nahyan, according to respected biographer and historian Andrew Lownie, along with other sources.
Insiders have further corroborated to The Sun that this generous offer from Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is a token of appreciation for Andrew’s past “kindness” during his tenure as the UK’s international business envoy.
According to these sources, the UAE’s royal family has made it abundantly clear that the palace is available to Andrew “if he wants it,” providing him with a potential escape should his situation in the UK become unsustainable.
They added that Andrew and his equally problematic ex wife, who also lives in Royal Lodge, would be ‘afforded every luxury’ if they decide to accept the offer.
Escalating scandals and scrutiny from MPs and the public have seen the pariah Prince become somewhat of a hermit at Royal Lodge, only occasionally surfacing from the mansion to ride horse around its grounds.
Freedom to live openly in the UAE may be tempting for the recluse royal with the deluxe features of the Arabian palace only making the offer all the more alluring.
Prince Andrew attends a military air display event on November 25, 2010 in Abu Dhabi with Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Multiple sources have claimed Andrew has been gifted a palace by the ruling house of Nahyan
The mansion in Abu Dhabi (pictured) is said to be fully staffed with servants and personal chefs
Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson (pictured in 2019) are holed up in their grace-and-favour Royal Lodge amid increased scrutiny over his rent-free living arrangements and friendship with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein
The palace, which is visible in satellite imagery in a secure diplomatic area, extends over 1,500 square metres on an exclusive plot reserved for VIPs.
It boasts six ensuite air-conditioned bedrooms, an indoor gym complete with a swimming pool, a home cinema, a large kitchen and live-in staff, including a team of personal chefs.
There has been an increasing pressure on Andrew to vacate the lavish on the Windsor Great Park estate after his rent-free living arrangements were uncovered and new details about his links to Jeffrey Epstein came to light.
Sir Keir Starmer this week said he would back a parliamentary inquiry into the disgraced Prince’s living arrangements.
It came after Sir Ed Davey said an inquiry by a select committee should be able to grill witnesses ‘including the current occupant’ – a reference to Andrew, who last week announced he would stop using his Duke of York title to avoid distracting from the work of the King and the Royal Family.
Sir Keir replied: ‘It’s important in relation to all Crown properties that there is proper scrutiny and I would certainly support that.’
Senior Tory Robert Jenrick said it was ‘about time Prince Andrew took himself off to live in private’ as ‘the public are sick of him’.
Earlier this week, Scotland Yard confirmed it is probing claims that Andrew tried to involve the Met Police and one of Queen Elizabeth’s most senior aides in a campaign to smear Virginia Giuffre, who had accused him of assaulting her as a teenager.
A bombshell email obtained by the Daily Mail exposed how Andrew asked his taxpayer-funded police bodyguard to investigate the ‘lying’ young woman.
Shockingly, the prince passed on details of her date of birth and social security number, presumably given to him by Epstein.
He also claimed Virginia, who took her own life earlier this year, had criminal convictions, a claim which has not been backed up by any evidence or confirmed by police and has been strongly denied by her family.
Calls are growing for Prince Andrew to be kicked out of the Royal Lodge (pictured), the lavish Windsor mansion he shares with his ex-wife
There has been an increasing pressure on Andrew to vacate the lavish on the Windsor Great Park estate after his rent-free living arrangements were uncovered and new details about his links to Jeffrey Epstein came to light (Pictured together in Central Park in 2011)
Virginia Giuffre photographed with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in London in 2001
An earlier email exposé proved that Andrew lied to Buckingham Palace and the British public when he claimed he had cut off all contact with his close friend in December 2010, following Epstein’s release from prison on child-sex charges.
Twelve weeks later he emailed the paedophile financier to say they were ‘in this together’ and sickeningly expressed his wish to ‘play some more soon’.
His ex wife Sarah Ferguson, who has also been living in Royal Lodge, came under fire in recent weeks as astonishing new emails claimed Epstein had secretly bankrolled her for 15 years.
The convicted paedophile complained to friends about the disgraced duchess’s scrounging ways in messages that suggest his financial support went far beyond the £15,000 she admitted taking from him.
In the previously unseen emails, Epstein reveals Fergie was so desperate to cosy up to him that ‘she was the first to celebrate’ his release from jail ‘with her two daughters in tow’. Princess Beatrice would have been 20 at the time and Eugenie 19, the same age as many of his victims.
The shocking claims are contained in a huge tranche of documents, known as the ‘Epstein files’, under review by the US Congress. They are set to be released once they have been redacted to protect the identity of hundreds of young girls Epstein raped and sexually abused.
It was this week announced that Andrew will be asked to give evidence about his connection to the late American paedophile financier in front of a US committee which is ‘extremely interested’ in hearing from him.
Stephen Lynch, a senior member of the US House Oversight Committee, revealed he wanted to speak to the King’s brother ‘regarding his involvement in all of this’.
But the 65-year-old royal cannot be subpoenaed to attend a hearing because he is a UK citizen, and it would therefore be his choice whether or not to give evidence.
Last month, the Daily Mail revealed how Fergie wrote to Epstein calling him a ‘supreme friend’, just weeks after giving an interview claiming she would ‘never have anything to do with’ the sex offender ever again – reviving the scandal that saw her and Andrew relinquish their titles on Friday.
In the London Evening Standard interview of March 7, 2011 Fergie issued a ‘heartfelt apology’ for accepting £15,000 from Epstein and called it ‘a giant error of judgment’.
The comment angered the financier, who sent an email to his friend, French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, that day, complaining: ‘The duchess that I have financially helped for 15 years said that she wants nothing to do with a paedophile and child sex abuser. It has caused quite a stir.’
Brunel was later arrested on rape charges and killed himself in jail in 2022, three years after Epstein’s own jail suicide.
Epstein demanded Fergie write him a public letter of apology over the interview and threatened to sue her if she did not.
