Removal van arrives for Andrew’s Royal Lodge eviction

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor seems to be packing up his bags as a white van arrives at the Royal Lodge where he has lived rent-free for 22 years.

In the next few weeks, the ex-prince is expected to move into a temporary property on the King’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

The former Duke of York was banished from the Royal Family and was handed an eviction notice from the Royal Lodge last year.

This was due to his controversial friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and allegations that he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was a teenager.

He has repeatedly denied these allegations.

Andrew is set to stay at the temporary property until renovations at his anticipated new home, Marsh Farm, finish by Easter.

The farmhouse lies in the secluded village of Wolferton which has a church and social club, but no pubs or village shops.

Wolferton is best known for the Wolferton Railway Station which opened in 1862 – the same year that Queen Victoria purchased the site of Sandringham House.

Over the years, elegant reception rooms were built at the station where several generations of the Royal Family and their visitors would wait for transportation to Sandringham House.

The farmhouse is also near the King’s Wood Farm estate, where Prince Philip lived after his retirement.

Marsh Farm’s revamp includes a Sky TV installation and a new security fence.

Sky engineers were spotted up ladders outside of the property and the perimeter’s wire mesh has been replaced with a six-foot wooden fence.

Workers have also been spotted using a JCB digger and installing new security lights on the walls, ready for the ex-prince’s arrival.

A local security firm’s van was parked on the property’s driveway and a team of at least six people have been working through the cold and rain this week.

Insiders have said Marsh Farm needed a lot of work to ‘make it habitable.’

At the end of last year, the Sandringham no-fly zone was extended to include the property.

A drone ban was also extended to include Marsh Farm last autumn.

Andrew reportedly wanted to live at Wood Farm on Sandringham, which is a five-bed cottage near the stables and pheasant shooting grounds.

However, there were concerns that he would be living ‘too close’ to the rest of the family.

On Saturday, the Daily Mail revealed that the Royal Lodge was not inspected once by officials during the 22 years Andrew lived there rent-free.

This is despite strict conditions in the lease, which was signed in 2003, which included no rent but a costly upfront refurbishment and upkeep schedule.

Andrew paid £8 million to repair the property and promised to allow inspectors in the premises at ‘all reasonable times’ to make sure he looked after it.

In return for this agreement, Andrew was allowed to pay his estate landlord no rent for the duration of the 75-year lease.

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