A protracted and costly stalemate has developed at a royal residence, with a senior member of the family reportedly refusing to leave his long-term home without a substantial financial settlement and guarantees of a fully staffed replacement property.
The individual, who was formally stripped of his royal titles and military affiliations several years ago following a major scandal, has been instructed to relocate from his Windsor estate. However, negotiations have reportedly ground to a halt over his demands, which insiders describe as extraordinary.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the former royal is asking for approximately $99 million to formally agree to depart. Furthermore, he is insisting his new accommodation on a separate royal estate must be a large, six or seven-bedroom house, and come with a complete, permanent domestic staff including a cook, gardener, housekeeper, and driver. Continued security protection is also a stated requirement.
“He is effectively holding the process hostage,” one source claimed. “The expectation was a transition, but it has become a drawn-out financial negotiation. He wants his lifestyle replicated exactly, without compromise.”
Despite the very public fall from grace and the removal of official titles, those close to the situation say life inside the Windsor home continues as if little has changed. Staff are reportedly still instructed to use formal royal forms of address, with the resident asserting that the rules stripping him of status “do not apply within his own walls.”
Observers describe the occupant as existing in a state of denial, largely insulated from reality. His daily routine is said to revolve almost entirely around golf, with aides suggesting he lives “as though time stopped years ago.”
The individual has shared the home with his former wife since 2008. Their two adult daughters are also associated with the property. The current monarch is said to be keen to resolve the situation, viewing the occupied lodge as an unnecessary financial drain and an obstacle to the modernization of the monarchy’s estate portfolio.
For now, with the deal far from complete, the former royal remains in place, with sources indicating he could potentially dig in for many more months as the tense negotiations continue at a glacial pace.
