[imagesource: Getty Images]

In a nutshell, mother dearest.

But that doesn’t paint the full picture of how Prince Andrew affords such a lavish lifestyle, along with a hefty legal bill to boot.

There is currently talk that the Duke of York is flogging his £18 million Swiss ski chalet to help with those legal bills (pictured below), and he could also be forced to cough up a multimillion-pound settlement to accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

Andrew’s US lawyer Andrew Brettler is rumoured to charge around $2 000 an hour for his services.

You’d think all of this would make Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson tone down the spending (the couple divorced in 1996 but still live together) but that’s not really the case.

The Telegraph points out a few things in particular:

There are also, arguably, significant questions to answer about Andrew’s spending in light of recent events – not least after the royal, who owns a watch collection including a £150,000 Patek Philippe, last year splashed out on a £220,000 Bentley to add to his two Range Rovers.

Image: Geoff Pugh

Her Majesty, 95, reportedly agreed to pay for Andrew’s defence at the beginning of last year…

Imagine having to rely on your 95-year-old mother to pay your legal bills when you’re charged with having sex with an underage girl on multiple occasions?

And still, the spending goes on:

As one source put it: “The Duke is currently totally dependent on the Queen but that surely cannot go on forever. The trouble is the Yorks’ outgoings are still huge. Andrew is still paying for Beatrice and Eugenie’s private bodyguards.”

Then there’s Fergie, who was reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy in 2010 following a string of failed business deals and after being caught in a News of the World sting trying to sell access to Andrew to a reporter posing as a sheik, for £500,000.

Image: Getty Images

“It doesn’t matter how much money she has, it just seems to slip through her fingers. They are not in a great place right now,” added the insider.

Andrew has already managed to squander what many consider ill-gotten gains. In 2007, he somehow sold Sunninghill Park, the Yorks’ marital home, for £3 million more than the £12 million asking price to the son-in-law of the President of Kazakhstan.

You don’t earn the nickname ‘Air Miles Andy’ without taking a liking to travelling by private jet.

One wonders what will happen when the Queen finally shuffles off this mortal coil.

Will the royal money dry up?

[source:telegraph]