Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, was arrested in the UK Thursday, on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
While he was stripped of his royal titles last year, speculation has remained around his finances and how he has been able to fund a still lavish lifestyle on the Royal family's Sandringham Estate.
How the Royal family is funded has been the subject of scrutiny for decades, with questions only becoming more intense during a time of turmoil for the British monarchy following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's departure, and the revelations around Mountbatten-Windsor and his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Mountbatten-Windsor's only declared current income is said to be his Royal Navy pension from service between 1979 and 2001, reported at about £20,000 per year, according to The Guardian in October 2025. That seemingly modest salary raised eyebrows, as he has been living at the large Royal Lodge on the Sandringham Estate in the east of England.
The last published figure for his public funding as a working royal was £249,000 in 2010, and over roughly four decades he received nearly £13 million to fund royal duties before stepping down in 2019 following his infamous BBC Newsnight interview about his ties to Epstein and one of his accusers, Virginia Giuffre.
After 2010, the late Queen Elizabeth II reportedly made direct payments from private wealth while he carried out engagements, and after 2019 the Queen, and then King Charles, were believed to continue an annual allowance of about £1 million until it reportedly stopped amid the Royal Lodge dispute.
The former prince acquired the lease to Royal Lodge in 2003 after a one-off £1 million payment following the Queen Mother's death, with a requirement to invest £7.5 million in renovations. Records indicated most work finished by 2005; he pays no rent, must maintain the property, and faced reported repair costs of about £2 million and personal security costs reportedly around £3 million a year after funding changes.
In 2007, he sold Sunninghill Park, near Windsor, to the son-in-law of Kazakhstan's president for £3 million above the £12 million asking price; contemporaneous reports linked him to commercial introductions in Kazakhstan with an indicated 1% commission on a separate bid, as reported at the time.
Mountbatten-Windsor then acquired the Verbier chalet in Switzerland in 2014 for a reported £18 million; subsequent sale details and amounts have been reported in the press including claims of a later sale to address debts which the Daily Record summarized without providing primary documents.
The Giuffre civil settlement amount remains sealed and the extent of any personal contribution by Mountbatten-Windsor is not publicly confirmed. Media and political commentaries have noted family support for costs but no official figures have been disclosed.
All of this has left speculation open over Mountbatten-Windsor's true net worth, with estimates ranging widely from $5 million to $15 million.
Similar scrutiny remains around the wider royal family, with the U.K. government having changed the way funding was declared in 2010-making the process more opaque.
The monarchy is funded, in part, by The Sovereign Grant which is determined by the government through taxpayer money. It is used to maintain royal residences, primarily. In 2024-25, the fund was worth £86.3 million.
Whoever the reigning monarch is has a separate fund, called the Privy Purse, which comes from the Duchy of Lancaster—a portfolio of land and assets belonging to the Crown.
King Charles III, in a statement Thursday: "I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office. What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation. Let me state clearly: the law must take its course. As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter. Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all."
Robert Jenrick, then the U.K.'s Conservative shadow justice secretary, said in October 2025: "It's about time Prince Andrew took himself off to live in private and make his own way in life. He has disgraced himself; he has embarrassed the royal family time and again. The public are sick of him."
Norman Baker, former U.K. Home Office minister, told the Daily Record: "We don't know how much he was left by the late Queen; we don't know how much he gets from his dodgy contacts. We do know that he had to borrow money from his family to pay off Virginia Giuffre. He also appears to be financially supporting his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, which must be like pouring water into a colander."
Thames Valley Police and the National Crime Agency were continuing inquiries related to misconduct in public office allegations and Epstein-linked claims, with Buckingham Palace saying it would stand ready to support any police investigation.