Andrew Mountbatten Windsor trotting around Windsor on a royal horse is ‘not a good look’ for the King and will rile his neighbours the Prince and Princess of Wales, a well-placed source has said.
The former Duke of York may no longer be a prince but he is still enjoying the trappings of royal life despite losing all his titles and HRH.
The King’s brother went riding on the Windsor estate yesterday morning for the first time in seven weeks.
The image of him smiling on a horse in the Autumn sunshine shows he is yet to leave Royal Lodge, despite being evicted by his older brother and nephew.
‘It’s really not a good look. The King won’t be happy that his brother has been photographed riding in the grounds of Windsor Castle, which after all is funded by the taxpayer’, a royal source has said.
William and Kate will also be annoyed by the pictures of Andy happily riding with a female companion because they don’t want him in their lives full stop, let alone as a near-neighbour.
‘That move to Sandringham can’t come soon enough to get him away from Windsor’, the source added.
But Charles does still have a weakness for Andrew, they said, and he is worried about his mental health after being cooped up for approaching two months.
Andrew seen today in Windsor for first time since being stripped of all his royal titles and HRH
Andrew had not been seen in public for approaching seven weeks – but he popped up yesterday
The King won’t be happy about his riding session and nor will William and Kate, a source has said (pictured together after the Requiem Mass service for the Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral on September 16)
‘I gather Andrew and Fergie are both feeling the strain. Their family and friends are worried about their mental health and the King does feel he has a duty of care to his brother. He’s been holed up at Royal Lodge for weeks’.
The Daily Mail’s royal editor Rebecca English revealed last night that Andrew was smuggled out of Royal Lodge, apparently ducking out of sight in the back seat of a car, and driven straight to Windsor Castle to take out a horse from the Royal Mews shortly after 10am yesterday.
It is believed he went out riding for around 45 minutes in the company of a woman groom with whom he chatted animatedly and gesticulated.
Afterwards it is believed that the ex-prince was smuggled back home the same way in his car to avoid detection.
Andrew used to head out to the royal stables three or four times a week ‘as regular as clockwork’, according to locals.
Staff were also instructed not to drive the animals up to him at the 30-room Royal Lodge in the King’s horsebox – which they were often made to do when the former Duke of York wanted to avoid photographers.
However, the former Duke of York hasn’t been seen since October 3, shortly before the latest Jeffrey Epstein-related scandal that deprived him of his remaining royal privileges broke in The Mail on Sunday.
Andrew is meant to be being banished to Sandringham but multiple sources have said it will take him months to move out of his Windsor home, which he shares with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
Fergie is reportedly considering fleeing the UK to live in their daughter’s £3.6million Portuguese villa this winter.
Andrew has not been seen in public since October 3, but has received visits from family including his eldest daughter Beatrice, who looked particularly forlorn as she left.
King Charles formally stripped his brother Andrew of his prince title on November 6.
The monarch also removed his HRH by issuing a rare Letters Patent, making his younger brother officially a commoner.
The former Duke of York has gone to ground over the Epstein scandal and Virginia Giuffre’s book. He and was last seen outside on October 3 (pictured)
It was another dark day for the former Duke of York, whose reputation is in tatters due to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and Virginia Giuffre‘s recent posthumous autobiography.
Details of the King’s Letters Patent have been published by the Crown Office in The Gazette, the UK’s official public record.
The entry read: ‘THE KING has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated 3 November 2025 to declare that Andrew Mountbatten Windsor shall no longer be entitled to hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of ‘Royal Highness’ and the titular dignity of ‘Prince’.’
Buckingham Palace confirmed the 65-year-old would no longer be a Prince with immediate effect – and would also be leaving the 30-bed Royal Lodge in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
The Palace coldly announced the ‘censures [were] deemed necessary’ amid the growing controversy surrounding his relationship with Epstein, with whom Andrew lied about cutting ties with.
Charles has stripped Andrew of his titles and home over the Epstein scandal
The Mail on Sunday revealed how Andrew told Epstein in an email ‘we are in this together’ a day after the infamous picture of the former prince with his alleged then-teenage sex victim Ms Giuffre was published.
In the wake of the fallout, Ms Giuffre’s family said she was ‘an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family’, who had ‘brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage.’
Andrew has continued to deny the allegations made against him as well as ever meeting Ms Giuffre, who made damning revelations about Mr Mountbatten Windsor in a posthumous memoir.
She took her own life earlier this year, aged 41.
In 2022, Andrew settled a US civil case she lodged for a reported £12million, reportedly receiving money from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, to help meet the costs. The settlement came with no admission of liability.
The shunned ex-duke has been erased from the Royal website entirely, with no mention of him on ‘The Royal Family’ page or when the term ‘Andrew’ is entered into the search bar.
However, the website is yet to remove previous features relating to his old engagements.
His Majesty’s younger brother will now be banished to a private property on the monarch’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, but no further details have been shared.
It is understood Prince William and the Royal Family fully support the King’s decision.
Annie Farmer, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s earliest accusers who testified in the trial that resulted in the conviction of his long-time aide Ghislaine Maxwell, told the BBC: ‘Virginia did what most thought impossible. She showed the world that even the most powerful predators can be held accountable.’
Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, Andrew’s former home. He will now be moving to a private residence on the monarch’s Sandringham estate
In one of the few positives for Andrew, he had been allowed to keep his operational service medals, including the one he won in the Falklands.
The disgraced royal served for 22 years in the Navy, including throughout the victorious campaign in the South Atlantic where he was the co-pilot of a Sea King helicopter.
He conducted anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, casualty evacuation and search and rescue missions.
Andrew also played the role of a decoy for Argentina’s Exocet missiles, flying over aircraft carriers to prompt anti-ship weapons.
Veterans of the war previously said it would be ‘morally indefensible’ to remove a medal earned through active service.
