Britain’s King Charles neglected to send his younger brother Prince Andrew congratulations on his 63rd birthday on Twitter on Sunday, as is customary among members of the royal family.
No birthday greetings appeared on the royal family’s official Twitter account by Sunday evening, a repeat of last year, when neither the palace nor the government congratulated the prince.
And the newspaper “The Sun” took advantage of the day to publish a lengthy article indicating that the prince may soon lose the “Royal Lodge”, a palace in the grounds of Windsor Castle that Andrew occupies with his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York.
It said Charles wanted to cut the 249,000 pounds ($300,000) annual support granted by their mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, as part of plans to reduce the size of the royal family. Andrew would then have to collect the meager pension accumulated while serving in the Royal Navy.
An unnamed source told the newspaper: “Andrew and Sarah are distraught to have been given such short notice. The Queen died only a few months ago. He hasn’t been fired outright, but it is expected he won’t be able to afford the upkeep.”
Earlier media reports revealed that Andrew no longer used an office at Buckingham Palace in central London.