Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor appears to be moving to his permanent home of Marsh Farm, following him being booted out of former home Royal Lodge
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor seems to be on the move from his temporary home on the Sandringham estate to his more permanent residence of Marsh Farm. Since he handed back his lease on Royal Lodge, the former prince has been residing in Wood Farm on the King’s Norfolk estate, where his late father Prince Philip lived out his final days.
Andrew has been holed up in the modest cottage since his arrest last month, while Marsh Farm underwent much needed renovations. But it seems the former prince will be on the move again, as earlier today, three lorries were spotted driving into Marsh Farm, believed to be housing Andrew’s unique art collection.
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Lorries from Gander & White – an art logistics company with a royal warrant – were seen arriving at Marsh Farm, near Wolferton, believed to be carrying paintings. The company, which has the slogan “custodians of the irreplaceable,” specialises in transporting fine art and has worked for prestigious clients, including the National Portrait Gallery in London.
The company seems to have been entrusted with the task of moving Andrew’s art collection to his new home, which include a series of very unique paintings and artefacts, as part of the disgraced royal’s personal collection.
While the art believed to be in the lorries belongs to Andrew, much of his collection has remained at his former home of Royal Lodge, as the extensive trove of art was held by the Royal Collection Trust, which manages the Royal Collection – a collection of artefacts and paintings curated by monarchs throughout the centuries.
As a result of Andrew’s eviction from the Windsor estate, these pieces have remained with the Royal Collection trust, which are spread across royal exhibitions, as well as being used to furnish royal residences.
One such item that Andrew is believed to have had at Royal Lodge was an ancient sword, which Princess Beatrice reportedly famously used in jest by pretending to ‘knight’ James Blunt at a party, accidentally cutting Ed Sheeran’s face in the process.
Other works included a 19th century oil painting called Eugenie, Empress of the French and wife of Napoleon III, by Charles Édouard Boutibonne, and historic photographs by Cecil Beaton, who photographed both the late Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in the early years of their lives.
Within the grand saloon of Royal Lodge, it is understood that there are many more historic artefacts in the collection, however a spokesman for the trust declined to comment and said that the trust does not confirm the location of items that are not on public display.
While being an avid collector of art, Mountbatten-Windsor also has a more unusual collection: teddy bears. The former prince reportedly had at least 72 teddy bears in his collection, with one former Buckingham Palace staffer telling The Sun that she had been responsible for laying out the soft toys in order of size every morning.
Andrew was forced to give up the lease of his former Windsor mansion Royal Lodge after being stripped of all his royal titles following the latest revelations about his association with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. There was also a huge outcry after it emerged he had only been paying a peppercorn rent for the mansion, which has prompted an investigation into the Crown Estate into why he had been handed such a lucrative lease.
At the end of October, the King officially stripped his disgraced brother Andrew of his HRH style and his prince title, and removed his dukedom from the Roll of the Peerage over his “serious lapses” of judgment.
The move followed the publication of a posthumous memoir by Andrew’s accuser, Virginia Giuffre, and the US government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate. It emerged that Andrew had emailed Epstein in 2011 saying “we’re in this together”, three months after he claimed he had broken all contact with the paedophile. Andrew denies all wrongdoing.
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