LONDON (AP) — The former Prince Andrew has been awarded 302,000 pounds ($400,000) in compensation after he was forced to surrender the lease on his long-time home ahead of schedule due to the public outcry surrounding his relationship with the convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Crown Estate released the compensation figure on Friday as it announced that the former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, had fully vacated the Royal Lodge, a 30-room stately home surrounded by parkland near Windsor Castle, west of London. Mountbatten-Windsor was entitled to compensation because he moved out of the property less than 25 years into his 75-year lease, the Crown Estate said.
The money was deducted from the 1.8 million pounds Mountbatten-Windsor owed because of the condition of the property, meaning he actually paid the Crown Estate about 1.5 million pounds. The Crown Estate is an independent company established by Parliament to manage a vast portfolio of property throughout the United Kingdom that is nominally owned by the sovereign but is operated for the benefit of taxpayers.
“The lease for Royal Lodge has ended and our focus now is firmly on its future use and the opportunities to generate additional financial value for the nation from its early return,” the Crown Estate said in a statement.
King Charles III stripped his younger brother of his princely title and ordered him to leave Royal Lodge last year as the monarch sought to shield the rest of the royal family from the continuing scandal of Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with Epstein. The moves came as the U.S. Justice Department released millions of pages of documents from its investigation into Epstein, revealing previously unknown details about his links to the former prince.
Mountbatten-Windsor's continuing residence at Royal Lodge was a particularly sensitive issue for many people because he paid only a nominal rent on the house and surrounding estate.
The former prince signed a 75-year lease on Royal Lodge in 2003, when he was still a working member of the royal family, attending public events on behalf of his mother Queen Elizabeth II and serving as Britain's special trade representative. The lease required Mountbatten-Windsor to spend 7.5 million pounds on renovating the property and make a one-time payment of 1 million pounds.
Mountbatten-Windsor was entitled to compensation for the renovation expenses if he surrendered the lease within the first 25 years, the Crown Estate said.
Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, gave up his role as trade envoy in 2011 and stepped away from all royal duties in 2019 because of concerns about his relationship with Epstein.
After he moved out of Royal Lodge in February, Mountbatten-Windsor moved to a home on the Sandringham Estate in eastern England, which is privately owned by the king.
FILE - Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed three people and wounded at least eight across Ukraine, officials said Friday, as Ukraine struggles to counter escalating Russian bombardments that have killed more than 50 people over the past three days.
One man was killed and five people were wounded in Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region in the morning hours, said Mykhailo Semikin, the head of the regional military administration. He said the attacks hit residential areas and that a child was among the wounded.
Another man was killed in Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine, Svitlana Onyshchuk, head of the regional military administration, reported.
A woman was also killed in a Russian attack on warehouse facilities in the district of Bucha in the Kyiv region, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Telegram. Her body was found while clearing rubble and fighting a fire at the site, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration, said Friday. Three people were wounded there.
Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than 4 1/2 years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Elsewhere, a Ukrainian attack on Russia’s eastern Belgorod region killed two people Friday, the area’s regional emergency headquarters said. Regional governor Alexander Shuvayev said that 12 people had been wounded in Ukrainian strikes.
Russian attacks have killed dozens of civilians across Ukraine over the past three days using a mix of ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones. On Thursday, a Russian guided bomb exploded next to public buses filled with passengers in eastern Ukraine, killing 30 people.
A day earlier, a Russian missile strike killed 22 people, including five children, in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Moscow will likely escalate daily attacks as winter approaches, putting pressure on Ukraine as it prepares for winter and hitting the infrastructure keeping its war-battered economy afloat. Recent Russian targets have included energy systems, key industries, railways, post offices, shopping centers, telecom networks, gas stations and grain exports.
The Ukrainian leader held a meeting with military officials and government members on Friday focusing on Ukraine’s energy and air defense needs.
“Unfortunately, there is a lot of damage to the power grid and electricity transmission facilities," he wrote on Telegram. "Repairs are going on around the clock."
Zelenskyy appealed on Thursday for additional defense support from NATO countries, saying in an online post: “It is important that support in words takes concrete form in new packages for Ukraine’s defense.”
“Supplies of anti-ballistic capabilities, ammunition for our combat aircraft and investments in interceptors — all of this is directly helping save lives every day,” he said.
Without ammunition for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, Ukraine can’t stop Russian ballistic weapons. It is racing to develop a new generation of interceptors fast enough to catch Moscow’s high-flying jet-propelled drones.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike damaged a data center belonging to Russian technology giant Yandex, the company confirmed. It said that several modules at the center in Russia's Kaluga region had been “completely disabled.”
It is the second time in two days that the company has been targeted, with an earlier drone attack Thursday taking a data center in Russia's western Ryazan region offline.
Zelenskyy confirmed the data center strike in a post on X. He also said that Kyiv's forces had hit the Ukhta oil refinery in Russia's Komi region. The region's head, Rostislav Goldstein, said earlier on Friday that there had been an attack on the town of Ukhta, but that there had been no damage.
The governor of the Kaluga region, Vladislav Shapsha, said Friday that nine people had been wounded by drone attacks on the region.
Meanwhile, Tver regional governor Vitaly Korolyov said a Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at a factory in Redkino. No casualties were reported.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its air defenses downed 505 Ukrainian drones from late Thursday until early Friday.
Davies reported from Manchester, England.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A man looks through a broken window in a residential house damaged by a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Local residents and emergency workers stand near a crater made by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Local residents stand in front of building damaged by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
An elderly man sits on the bench in front of building damaged by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Cars are seen damaged by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
