Shocking that Prince Andrew won't move out of Royal Lodge to make way for lovely Kate

King Charles wants him out so he that Kate, William and their three children can live there. While William will be the next King, Andrew is going nowhere as he has been banished from public life

Andrew’s fall from grace is incredible. A friendship with American financier Jeffrey Epstein leads to a louche world of young women and eventually him having to pay out $2.7million to Virginia Giuffre to settle a civil sexual assault case.

With that payout King Charles then told him he was bringing shame on the Royal Family and that he was now not allowed to even open an old people’s home in Staines.

But the reality is that Andrew is dim. He can never take the hint. Just as when Epstein was jailed for the first time for paedo-type behaviour he didn’t end their friendship.

Now Andrew is displaying that stupidity all over again. This time in relation to Royal Lodge, a glorious Grade 30-roomed home in Windsor Great Park with 100 acres of land. Throw a gardener’s cottage, the Chapel Lodge, six lodge cottages and police security accommodation you can see why it’s valued at £30million today.

Back in 2002 Andrew was granted a 75-year lease on the property. He agreed to spend millions refurbing the place and therefore the rent was waved although he did cough up a £1million premium for the lease.

He lived there with his wife Fergie and their children Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Having married, the daughters no longer live there but despite a divorce Fergie has moved back in.

Here’s the problem. Charles has told Andrew he should move to the nearby Frogmore Cottage, the home which was refurbished by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex before they left America.

That is not grand enough for Andrew. Four bedrooms and a nursery. A piddling 5,089 sq ft. Far too downmarket for snooty Andrew. So, he is refusing to budge.

He points out that he has a 75-year lease and that under the terms he can pass it on to his daughters. On the King’s side, and you would have thought with his cancer the last thing he would want is more stress, he has said unless he quits he will withdraw the £4million a year which allows Andrew to continue living there.

So, there is stand-off, referred to in the Daily Mail as the Siege of Royal Lodge. This battle has been going on now for the best part of a couple of years. It is shocking of Andrew that it’s being played out in public like this.

The reality is that he does not need a 30-roomed house for either his family or public needs. He is now in his late sixties and is unlikely to have more children and he certainly won’t be having flashy social occasions at the house as he now persona no grata.

You would have thought he would simply crawl under a stone but instead believes his status is such that he can’t get by with a five-bedroomed home. Most people trade down when they get to his age, but he clearly views himself as far too grand.

This battle can be doing the Princess of Wales no good at all. She is recovering from an horrendous illness and surely even hard-hearted Andrew would want her and her family to be in their new home by the start of the summer term.

But no, he continues to slug it out putting his ridiculous arguments for staying into the media.

I thought a source who spoke to the Times got it right when they said; ‘It can be done tidily or it can be done untidily. It can be done with grace and dignity or it can be forced upon him.’’

I wonder if Andrew is bright enough to understand this. Nothing in the Epstein scandal would indicate that he does.