Andrew in talks to quit lodge

Prince could finally quit plush rent-free home

- BY CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

WITH his reputation in tatters over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Prince Andrew is said to be on the verge of giving up his fight to stay in the Royal Lodge mansion.

The disgraced British duke was reportedly locked in talks over finally quitting the €34million home he has lived in rent-free for years.

It came as a US lawmaker urged the prince to give evidence to Congress if he has nothing to hide over his links to Epstein.

But Democrat Suhas Subramanyam believes Andrew, 65, "categorically has information" about how the late American paedophile and now-jailed girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked girls for sex. Andrew denies he does.

He has been resisting pressure to vacate the 30-room Royal Lodge, which he cannot be legally evicted from under the terms of his "cast-iron" 75-year lease, of which roughly 50 remain. But a royal insider claimed he is now realising the fight may be futile and added: "The inevitability is dawning on him. He knows the walls are closing in. The mood in the Palace has shifted. There's a determination to resolve this. The feeling is that Andrew's situation cannot continue."

Talks are said to be taking place "daily" as the Palace steps up efforts to kick him out amid public fury over his living arrangements.