The mystery of Prince Andrew’s millionaire party lifestyle
Prince Andrew has partied around the world, drives a £220,000 Bentley and expensive lawyers would cost him up to £2,000 an hour – but where does his money come from?
Once dubbed ‘Air Miles Andy’ and the ‘Playboy Prince’ for his penchant for luxury travel and reputation for living well, new questions are being raised about the Duke’s seemingly extraordinary wealth.
With a watch collection estimated at hundreds of thousands of pounds, a jet-setting life that has seen him party everywhere from St Tropez to New York, and until recently a £17million ski chalet sterling in the Alps, Andy’s millionaire lifestyle seems to eclipse that of the other Royals.
And yet, despite all that glamorous globetrotting, his official annual income is said to be just £248,000 of Queen’s pocket money and a Royal Navy pension of just under £20,000.
With this stipend intended to cover the costs of her duties, including her team of staff, she would apparently not be large enough to cover her extravagant lifestyle as well.
The rest of Andrew’s private wealth remains – as royal finance expert David McClure put it – ‘shrouded in mystery’, with the royal allowance and his pension being his only official sources of income for the past 20 years. years.
His apparent hidden fortune has returned to the spotlight as he faces a potentially multi-million pound legal battle against his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre.