Prince Andrew latest: MPs ‘pushing hard’ to open inquiry into Royal Lodge rent deal

Following new allegations in Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, the disgraced royal has been advised to ‘take himself off to live in private’ – Sean O’Grady suggests that a remote castle outside John O’Groats, once his grandmother’s summer home, might be a suitable punishment.

MPs within the public accounts select committee are reported to be “pushing hard” to launch an inquiry into Prince Andrew’s Royal Lodge rental affairs.

The Guardian is reporting that MPs are gathering support for the inquiry. The entire committee will need to agree to the inquiry for it to go ahead.

The select committee is chaired by Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

The outlet reported that Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey wrote to Mr Clifton-Brown to launch the inquiry, saying: “Proper transparency is urgently needed, and parliament has an important role to play in scrutinising the crown estate and ensuring that taxpayers’ interests are upheld.”

As pressure mounts on Prince Andrew over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, MPs and campaigners have called on him to leave his resident at the Royal Lodge in Windsor.

It emerged on Tuesday that Andrew had only paid a “peppercorn rent” for the property for two decades.

The 30-room Lodge was the Windsor residence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother from 1952 until her death in 2002.

Sir Keir Starmer has indicated he would support a bid for Prince Andrew to be grilled by MPs over his rent at the Royal Lodge.

Responding to Sir Ed Davey’s query at PMQs, the prime minister said: “It’s important in relation to all crown properties that there is proper scrutiny, I certainly support that.”

You can read the full story below…

Four men arrested over the projection of images of US president Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein onto Windsor Castle at the start of his state visit last month have been released without charge, Thames Valley Police said.

A 60-year-old man from East Sussex, a 36-year-old man from London, a 37-year-old man from Kent and a 50-year-old man from London were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications over the incident.

On Wednesday evening, Thames Valley Police said no further action would be taken.

A statement said: “The investigation into four men arrested in connection with an unauthorised projection onto Windsor Castle has concluded and no further action will be taken against them.

“The arrests took place on September 16 and involved a 60-year-old man from East Sussex, a 36-year-old man from London, a 37-year-old man from Kent and a 50-year-old man from London.

“The individuals were arrested on suspicion of offences including malicious communications and public nuisance.”

Prince Andrew has been mired in scandal since details of Jeffrey Epstein’s behaviour emerged in 2019.

You can read the full timeline below…

Four out of five Britons believe Prince Andrew should be formally stripped of his dukedom, according to a new poll.

The survey conducted by YouGov showed that 63 per cent of nearly 6,700 adults questioned were “strongly” in favour of formal removal of the dukedom and 17 per cent “somewhat” supporting the idea, while 6 per cent were opposed to it – 4 per cent somewhat and 2 per cent strongly – and 14 per cent did not know.