Andrew may be trapped in Balmoral by petrol panic
PRINCE Andrew has previously been accused of ‘hiding away’ at Balmoral and refusing to face the music over his U.S. court case. Now, I hear he faces a struggle to get home. The beleaguered Duke of York wants to return this week to Royal Lodge, Windsor, but can’t fill up his gas-guzzling vehicles for the 500-mile return journey from the Queen’s Scottish retreat.
Balmoral’s local petrol station, in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, announced yesterday that it had run out of fuel. When it reopens, petrol is likely to be rationed, meaning he could not buy enough for his long journey.
‘It’s a nightmare,’ declares my man in a kilt. ‘His Royal Highness could be stuck here until the crisis is over.’
The situation is particularly awkward because the Queen is expected to leave the castle this weekend and tourists could then arrive to stay on the estate.
He became known as ‘the Duke of Torque’ after I disclosed last month that he had taken not one, not two, but three SUV vehicles to Scotland.
The three ‘Chelsea tractors’ travelled in convoy for the 1,020-mile round-trip. ‘It doesn’t seem very eco-friendly,’ a friend admitted at the time. ‘It’s not clear why he needed three cars.’
It’s understood that Andrew still receives taxpayer-funded police protection even though he ‘stepped back’ from public engagements in November 2019 because of the furore over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
However, this was a private visit and all three cars belonged to Andrew. One of the vehicles was a new petrol Land Rover Defender, which costs more than £53,000. The other two were his Land Rover Discovery and his £115,000 Range Rover petrol-electric hybrid.
Andrew travelled in the same car as his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York. As revealed in this column, Fergie arrived last Thursday for her third stay at Balmoral.