After his move to Sandringham, Andrew will only have farmhands, household staff and the whistling of the wind to keep him company. Photo / Getty Images
Asked to sum up what life will be like at Sandringham for Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, one former courtier needed just one word: bleak.
While the King’s Norfolk estate is bustling with life at Christmas, when the royal circus moves to the edge of the fens, for much of the rest of the year, Andrew will only have farmhands, household staff and the whistling of the wind to keep him company.
“It’s going to be a lonely life for him,” one source who has spent time at Sandringham said. “It’s a working farm, so there are always people around, but they are staff, and he’s not someone who has a track record of being friendly with servants.
“I wouldn’t want to live there the whole time. It’s remote, there is the wind whipping in from The Wash, it’s cold and he will be pretty much stuck there. It does have a certain beauty, but life will be bleak for him.”
Having lived in a 30-room mansion with the requisite number of staff, Andrew will now live in what is described as a modest cottage on the estate, where he might have to learn a new skill at the age of 65: how to look after himself.
Never in his life has he had to cook a meal, wash his own clothes, buy groceries, do the vacuuming or any of the other chores the rest of us take for granted.
Unlike his nephew Prince William, who did all of the above during his relatively normal student years in a shared house, Mountbatten Windsor has been totally institutionalised since the day he was born. Even during his 22 years in the Royal Navy he had a ship’s cook to feed him and subordinates to cater to his whims.
Now, though, he will be living the life of a divorced father, and he is likely to have to learn at least some life skills.
When the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip spent time at Wood Farm on the estate in their later years, they only had a butler and cook to help them, and were not averse to cooking and washing up themselves before old age limited them.
There had been speculation that the five-bedroom Wood Farm, where Prince Philip spent his final years, would be given to Andrew, but royal sources have ruled this out, partly because Andrew’s siblings often stay there.
York Cottage, once known as the Bachelor’s Cottage, is another option, though it is currently used to house staff, and Park House, Princess Diana’s childhood home which is currently empty and is a former respite centre for the disabled, could be refurbished for his use.
Other potential options include The Garden House, once home to Sandringham’s head gardener, as well as The Folly, a three-bedroom home nestled in the estate’s private woodlands.
It seems likely that the King will provide his brother with some domestic help, including a cleaner, but whether he is given a full time cook, a valet or a butler, given that he is now a private citizen without any official duties, is unclear.
“Maybe he will have a housekeeper but he’s going to have to learn to fend for himself,” said another former member of royal staff. “He will certainly have plenty of time to learn domestic skills as well as plenty of time for contemplation.”
Exiled from the Home Counties, and a long train journey from his daughters’ homes at Kensington Palace and St James’s Palace, his opportunities for seeing his children and grandchildren are likely to be limited.
There is, at least, a Pizza Express just seven miles away (11km) in King’s Lynn, should he wish to treat his daughters to a meal out, as he famously claims to have done in Woking on the night his accuser Virginia Giuffre said he had sex with her.
Royal sources have suggested that if Andrew wants to continue his unorthodox arrangement of living with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, he is free to do so, though reliable sources have suggested that won’t be the case. It means he will be living alone with just his dogs for company.
The King will have to decide whether his brother is allowed to join the rest of the family at the main house for Christmas, or to attend church with them on Christmas morning as is tradition, or whether those who want to visit him over Christmas will have to go to him at his new lodgings, as was the case with Sarah Ferguson while Prince Philip was alive.
On the plus side, life in Sandringham will allow him plenty of time and opportunity to ride on the 20,000-acre estate, as he has always done at Windsor.
The Royal Stud, established by George VI, is based at Sandringham, and it was from there that the late Queen Elizabeth II bred many of her winners.
He will not, though, be afforded total privacy. The estate is criss-crossed by public roads, which are often frequented by press photographers, and Sandringham House is open to the public at certain times of the year.
Sandringham is where the Royal family like to shoot, though it seems unlikely that Andrew will be allowed to lead his own shooting parties, and if he decides to take up an interest in birdwatching, there are lots of hides on the estate that were erected by his late father.
He will also be able to pursue his number one obsession: golf. He has a choice of the Heacham Manor Golf Club near Hunstanton, north of Sandringham, and to the south, there is the King’s Lynn Golf Club and the Middleton Hall Golf Club.
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