Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson have allegedly sparked concern they will try and flog valuable royal items in a bid to gather some cash before they are evicted from Royal Lodge.
The former Duke and Duchess of York, who were stripped of their titles and ordered to leave the Windsor mansion last year, are feared to be collecting items such as “private letters, recordings, and jewels” and plotting to “auction them off to the highest bidder”.
This has reportedly prompted the Palace to enlist legal advisers to monitor whether valuables are removed from Royal Lodge and take swift action.
“The appearance of even a single item would trigger immediate and widespread fallout,” a source claimed to Radar Online.
“But Andrew and Sarah seem intent on turning the Lodge into some sort of pawn shop source by collecting together goods they think they can auction off to the highest bidder.
“If they go ahead with this, their departure from royal life may end in the most volatile way yet.”
Another source told the outlet that some of the alleged valuables carry “profound historical and emotional significance” due to their links to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
“Even if Andrew argues they are his to sell, the visual impact of putting them on the market would be deeply damaging,” they claimed.
Andrew, 65, and Fergie, 66, who have lived at Royal Lodge rent-free for almost 20 years, have been given a deadline of January 31 to leave.
Following their eviction, Andrew will be relocated to King Charles’s private Sandringham estate, and Fergie will need to make her own living arrangements.
The former prince will live off an annual stipend from the King as well as an initial six-figure payout.
Fergie will need to support herself financially, and there are suspicions that she could write a tell-all memoir in order to bring in some cash.
It comes after it was reported Andrew is unlikely to receive the $1 million compensation he was entitled to due to the “dilapidated condition” he has left the 31-bedroom mansion.
The disgraced royal was set to receive $983,000 (£488,000) for handing back the mansion before the end of his 75-year lease, but its run-down state and need for extensive repairs mean he is unlikely to get a penny.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that, despite Andrew’s lease demanding strict upkeep of the property, no Crown Estate inspections took place during the 22 years he lived there.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams criticised the lack of inspections, adding that it could be seen as “another example of a sweetheart deal between the Crown Estate and Andrew”.
“This revelation is all the more surprising when you consider the fact that Andrew has been involved in so many high-profile disasters in recent years, and still no one thought to inspect the condition of the property until recently,” Fitzwilliams added to the Daily Mail.
The Crown Estate’s chief executive told the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee in November that it was “common practice” for visits to be conducted only on a “need-only” basis to ensure “effective use of public money”.
Andrew and Fergie’s dramatic fall from grace came after renewed scrutiny into their connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, published last year, repeated allegations that Andrew sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
Andrew has continuously denied all the allegations made against him.