AMANDA PLATELL: So many unemployable middle-aged Brits swallow their pride and downsize in later life. So why can't disgraced Prince Andrew?

Why should the disgraced Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Fergie remain in the 30-room Royal Lodge at Windsor while our future King, Prince William, and his wife Catherine live in more humble surroundings at four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage nearby?

In what has now been dubbed ‘The Siege of Royal Lodge’ by royal insiders, Andrew is refusing to move from his vast mansion, the former home of the late Queen Mother that is set in 98 acres of grounds in the heart of Windsor Great Park.

While Charles has called a halt to the annual handout he used to give his younger brother, he continues to pay his whopping £3milllion-a-year security bill.

But that still leaves Andrew to provide for the upkeep of not just the Royal Lodge but the gardener’s residence and six cottages for live-in staff on the estate, as he and Fergie seek to live like the Lord and Lady of the Manor.

Even the people he could once count as his most staunch supporters admit Andrew has become ‘a prisoner of his own pride’.

Prince Andrew was seen horse-riding near Windsor Castle on Monday

The duke was seen with a companion exercising his steed around the Windsor estate

Despite being stripped of all royal honour and dignity following his disastrous Newsnight interview over his links with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew persists in believing he is worthy of a home far grander than that of his nephew Prince William.

Adelaide Cottage is precious to William and Kate because it is a place where they can raise their three young children in privacy.

Not only is it close to the local school the children attend or will attend - making the the school run a breeze for their parents who do it whenever they can - but it is near to Kate’s parents Carole and Michael Middleton, who are very hands-on grandparents.

One of the reasons William and Kate moved their primary residence from their 20-room, four-storey home in Kensington Palace to Adelaide Cottage in 2022 was that it was a compact family house and just a ten-minute walk from Windsor Castle, where his beloved grandmother, the late Queen, spent most of her time in the years before her death.

The Prince and Princess of Wales live in the modest four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage with their three children... the property's privacy is said to be a huge draw for them

Kate and William on the school run with George, Louis and Charlotte

Following her passing, the Prince and Princess of Wales have easy access to the King and Queen who now spend much of their time there, ensuring their children can be close to their grandparents.

This is important, not just to Kate, but to the King, who describes her as his 'beloved daughter-in-law', as they both fight their own cancer battles.

It was in the unpretentious grounds of Adelaide Cottage, adorned at the time of year by early daffodils and jonquils, that Kate chose to make her shock announcement two and a half months ago about how, in the course of planned abdominal surgery, her doctors had discovered cancer. And it is amid the tranquillity of the cottage gardens, surrounded by her family, that she is healing.

All this at time when King Charles has made it clear that Andrew's occupancy of Royal Lodge is neither desirable nor appropriate for his vision of a more slimmed-down, less profligate monarchy.

But Andrew has almost 50 years left on a 73-year lease on what observers say is a crumbling property desperately in need of care. Some of the outhouses in a state of disrepair, with paint peeling off the walls.

And The Times reported at the weekend that Andrew must also 'repair, renew, uphold, clean and keep in repair and where necessary rebuild'. It added: 'Under the "planned maintenance guide" set out in the lease, he is obliged to clean the external paintwork, have it repointed and paint the walls "with two coats of paint" every five years from 2008 onwards'.

It means that this work was due to have been completed last year. Inside, he has committed to 'paint with at least two coats of paint and to paper, polish, decorate and otherwise appropriately treat' the interior walls every seven years from 2010 onwards. This is due to be completed this year.

Meanwhile he is refusing to move into the nearby - much more modest - five-bedroom Frogmore Cottage, the property once occupied by Prince Harry and Meghan.

He apparently sees it as an unacceptable downgrading of his God-given royal status. What arrogance!

The King has been trying to get Andrew to leave the Royal Cottage, where the duke reportedly spends his days in a darkened room watching television 

But Andrew is said to have refused to move out of the property, which is set among trees and woodland at the heart of Windsor Great Park, just three miles south of Windsor Castle

Frogmore Cottage, which was previously occupied by Prince Harry and Meghan, has been suggested as a more suitable residence for Andrew in straitened times

Andrew and Fergie were centre stage as they attended the thanksgiving service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor St George's Chapel with other royals in February

King Charles is said to have become frustrated that his brother will not leave the lodge

How much lower can the despised, delusional Andrew sink, following his transition from working royal to royal hanger-on?

He doesn’t even have a job, just a paltry £20,000-a-year naval pension. And that’s highly unlikely to change. He is, frankly, unemployable, according to friends. A man who whiles away his days sitting at home in a darkened room watching TV, as Fergie keeps herself to herself in her private wing.

As one insider rather brutally put it in The Times: ‘The King’s kindness (to his brother) is not without limit and there is a very good option for Andrew to move into Frogmore Cottage.’ They added that ‘if he doesn’t agree to move to a property better suited to his needs, then the King may have to reconsider the levels of support he is willing to give’.

For those close to the King to voice such opinions is unprecedented - and he must mean business or the briefings would have been stopped.

One friend of Charles said the King was emphatic that Andrew must move from the unsustainable Royal Lodge to the more modest Frogmore Cottage.

‘It can be done the tidy or untidy way. It can be done with grace and dignity or it can be forced upon him. It’s all rather sad but as things stand life at Royal Lodge is set to become increasingly uncomfortable for the duke.’

And it’s not just the heating bills he can’t afford, there’s the cost of gardeners and live-in staff too.

Charles is right to stand firm. How - in these straitened times - can the modernising King justify a prince who has brought such shame on the Royal Family, who was ceremonially sacked for bringing dishonour on them, living a life of luxury he does not deserve.

It is time for Charles to show some real gumption. Let’s see actions from our King, not mere words. Time to end the unofficial briefings and do what the nation demands: kick out Andrew and his clingy ex-wife.

The Duchess of York , 64, also lives in the Royal Lodge, where she is said to keep herself to herself... she spoke this week to Hello! magazine about her recent cancer diagnosis

The Duchess in her photoshoot for June 10 edition of Hello! magazine 

As for Andrew refusing the offer of Frogmore Cottage, which was extensively refurbished and lies within the ring of steel that surrounds the Royal Windsor estate, obviating the need for an independent security detail, it smacks of greed and entitlement.

It’s time for him, like many unemployable mid-life Brits who downsize in later life, to bite the bullet and exit gracefully.

Because to me, as a loyal subject, every day the tainted Prince Andrew remains in Royal Lodge is a stain on the integrity of the monarchy.