Andrew Mountbatten Windsor will leave Royal Lodge and relocate to a property on the Sandringham estate, with future accommodation to be met privately by the King. Buckingham Palace said the King has begun a formal process to remove Andrew’s style, titles and honours; he will be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. This follows years of reputational pressure linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The Guardian and People magazine both reported the change after a palace statement on 30 October.

For readers asking what is public money and what is not: this move is being funded privately by the monarch, not from the taxpayer-backed Sovereign Grant. GB News and other outlets noted the King will also make an “appropriate private provision” as Andrew exits Royal Lodge. That distinction matters for the public accounts debate.

On the public side of the ledger, HM Treasury has confirmed the Sovereign Grant for 2025–26 at £132.1m. That’s a £45.8m cash increase on 2024–25 and the first uplift since 2021–22. The Royal Trustees’ report sets out the calculation and explains why the rise was anticipated despite the grant rate being cut last year.

The mechanics are straightforward. Since 2024–25 the grant is set at 12% of Crown Estate profits from two years earlier, with a year‑to‑year floor so it cannot fall below the previous year’s amount. The Royal Trustees said the lower percentage still produces a temporary spike for 2025–26 and 2026–27, before reducing once Buckingham Palace works are fully funded and new legislation adjusts the amount from 2027–28.

Why the spike? Crown Estate net revenue profit hit roughly £1.1bn for the year to March 2025, largely from Round 4 offshore wind option fees. Even with the rate cut to 12%, those profits lift the grant in cash terms for two years. The Crown Estate has flagged that these windfall receipts will “normalise” from 2026.

Context helps. The Royal Household’s 2024–25 statement shows the grant stayed flat at £86.3m for a fourth year, split between a £51.8m core grant and £34.5m for Buckingham Palace’s 10‑year reservicing. Supplementary income rose to £21.5m after a record summer at Buckingham Palace.

What the grant covers-and what it doesn’t-often gets blurred. It funds official duties, property upkeep and travel, but not security. The Home Office and Metropolitan Police handle protection, and courts have ruled detailed costs won’t be disclosed for safety reasons.

Big set‑piece events also sit outside the grant. Treasury figures put the late Queen’s funeral at about £162m. Government accounts show the King’s Coronation cost £72m, including £21.7m for policing. Those numbers land in departmental budgets, not in palace accounts.

It’s equally important to separate the Crown Estate from the King’s private finances. The Crown Estate-worth around £15bn to £15.5bn depending on the year-belongs to the sovereign only for the duration of the reign, is independently run and pays all its profits to the Treasury. The monarch cannot sell its assets or keep its profits.

Private income is different. The Duchy of Lancaster (the Privy Purse) reported net assets of £678.7m and an adjusted net surplus of £24.4m in the year to 31 March 2025-money used by the King for private and some official costs, with voluntary income tax paid under the Treasury’s Memorandum.

For the Prince of Wales, the Duchy of Cornwall reported a £22.9m distributable surplus in 2024–25. Trade coverage and the Duchy note net assets of just over £1.1bn. As with Lancaster, the capital is preserved and the surplus is the personal income on which voluntary tax is paid.

Campaign group Republic argues the headline grant understates total public cost once security, local authority hosting and other items are included, putting their estimate at about £510m a year. House of Commons Library analysis, meanwhile, charts the grant’s rise from £31m at inception to today’s £132.1m in cash terms, with a 53% year‑on‑year increase in 2025–26. Expect the number to fall back after the palace project is funded.

Where does this leave Andrew? The reporting points to a move to privately funded housing on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk-long‑held by the monarch as a private property of roughly eight thousand hectares. The financial burden, and the optics, sit with the King rather than the taxpayer.

For readers tracking the public finances: watch three things over the next 24 months-Crown Estate marine income as Round 4 fees fade, the legislated reduction to the grant from 2027–28, and how the Royal Household offsets inflation through visitor income. Those will shape the size of the grant more than any single headline.