The King was flown by helicopter to a secret summit in the Cotswolds with the King of Bahrain, fuelling speculation Andrew’s future lies in the tiny Gulf island state.
The meeting was at Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s Oxfordshire estate on November 11, less than a fortnight after Andrew was stripped of his royal titles and home.
Palace courtiers played down its significance on Saturday night, insisting it was a private meeting between two old friends and the Andrew question was not on the agenda.
But sources said its timing will add weight to the suggestion Andrew is eyeing a new life in Bahrain – a British protectorate for 110 years until 1971 – where he previously expressed interest in relocating.
They pointed out the King found time for the meeting on a busy Remembrance Day and that eco-conscious Charles needed a helicopter, one of the most polluting modes of travel.
In 2006 it was announced he would stop using royal helicopters and private jets on official engagements whenever possible.
After ‘state duties’ on November 11, the King’s 43-mile trip from Windsor to £120million Glympton Park lasted 23 minutes.
The King and Hamad are understood to have talked for more than an hour. Arriving back at Windsor after 4.30pm, the King was in time to host a reception with Queen Camilla for Forces veterans.
Speculation has mounted over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s future after the King was flown by helicopter to a secret summit in the Cotswolds with the King of Bahrain
Andrew is close to Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and has remained a regular visitor to Bahrain since his spell as UK trade ambassador
Unlike the UK, Bahrain does not have an extradition agreement with the US, where Andrew has failed to respond to requests to testify to Congress about his links with Jeffrey Epstein.
Since his spell as a UK trade ambassador, Andrew has been a regular visitor to Bahrain. Sources say he loves ‘being fussed over and made to feel royal again’. He is close to Hamad and his 56-year-old son, Crown Prince Salman.
In 2022, in his first trip abroad since his catastrophic BBC Newsnight interview three years earlier, Andrew flew to Bahrain by private jet. It was on Saturday that Andrew will not leave his Royal Lodge home at Windsor until well into the New Year.
Before any potential move abroad he is expected to live at Sandringham, the King’s private Norfolk estate.
Simon Wilson, Britain’s deputy head of mission in Bahrain from 2001 to 2005, once described Andrew as being ‘more commonly known among the British diplomatic community in the Gulf as HBH: His Buffoon Highness’.
A leak of US diplomatic cables showed a US ambassador describing him as ‘rude’ and ‘cocky’.
