Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor lived at Royal Lodge on the Windsor Home Park estate before he was evicted by King Charles in February, following the stripping of his royal titles and honours last November.
But long before the former Duke of York called the sprawling residence home, King Charles spent time there as a child and will no doubt have fond memories of it.
King Charles’ fond memories of Royal Lodge
In April 1954, a five-year-old Prince Charles and a three-year-old Princess Anne were babysat at Royal Lodge by the Queen Mother while their parents, the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, were overseas on a royal tour.
The royal couple visited 57 towns and cities during their Commonwealth tour, and Charles and Anne were pictured at Royal Lodge, which was the Queen Mother’s permanent residence after the death of King George VI in 1952, with their grandmother shortly before they left for Tobruk in Libya to join their parents on the homeward-bound leg.
Charles was seen displaying his playful side as he climbed a tree before trying his hand at xylophone-playing with his sister.
In another photo, the young royal was seen on the patio of the royal residence showing one of the late Queen’s corgis some affection, and in the fourth photo, Charles cuddled up to his granny, who passed away in 2002, while Anne pushed a wheelbarrow.
A royal muse
It was time spent at his grandmother’s house that inspired King Charles’ love of nature. “I adored being a child in my grandmother’s garden at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park,” he told The Telegraph in 2019.
“My grandfather, King George VI, made a lot of it himself. He hacked out clearings and planted lots of rhododendrons and azaleas. I’ve always had a passion for them. There was an azalea walk with the common yellow azalea, which smells magical.”
When did Andrew move into Royal Lodge?
The former prince, who wasn’t born until 1960, moved into the Queen Mother’s former residence in 2004 after he split from Sarah Ferguson. He now lives at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate.
Sitting on 99 acres of land, Royal Lodge is a rather grand affair featuring seven bedrooms, a conservatory, and a swimming pool.
It also offers a miniature house once used by Queen Elizabeth II called Y Bwthyn Bach. Charles was seen peeking out of the window of the Wendy house with the Queen Mother in the photocall from 1954.
