Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s move out of Royal Lodge is just days away and will undoubtedly prove a challenge to pack up everything he has accumulated since he moved there in 2004. Before he called the 30-room mansion home, Andrew had lived in nearby Sunninghill Park before his divorce from Sarah Ferguson.

After the former couple went their separate ways, their previous home was transferred into a trust controlled by Queen Elizabeth II’s closest financial advisers for £12,500. In 2007, the trust sold the property to an offshore trust belonging to a Kazakh billionaire for £15 million.

It then fell into significant disrepair, and a collection of rarely seen photographs taken at the property reveals just how rundown the home had become after it was abandoned. Sunninghill Park was left in such a state that, in 2016, the decision was taken to demolish it altogether.

The Daily Express has taken a look at a selection of images which were captured in 2009.

1. Overgrown garden

Photographs show the garden was incredibly overgrown, with little care taken to maintain it to the standard typically seen in royal residences. Sunninghill Park was a 12-bedroom, 12-bathroom two-storey building with six reception rooms. Inside, the home was complete with a gym, a games room and a library. Andrew and Sarah lived in the mansion until 2004, despite filing for divorce in 1996.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

2. Filled in swimming pool

As well as an overgrown garden and chipped patios, what appears to have been a swimming pool has been filled in with white cement. While Sarah continued to live at Sunninghill until it was sold in 2007, Andrew did not directly own the home, as it was given to him by the late Queen as a wedding present in 1986.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

3. Destroyed garden

Land Registry documents show Queen Elizabeth owned the property on a long lease, and appeared to have granted Andrew its use at no cost. In the 2018 documentary, The Royal Wives of Windsor, royal biographer Penny Junor said: “Andrew and Fergie built themselves a very grand house called Sunninghill. The press quite rightly said it looked like a Tesco. They called it South York after the Dallas programme, and I think it all went downhill from there.”

(Image: Daily Mirror)

4. An eerie reception room

As well as messy and overgrown photographs of the outside of the house, an image of an abandoned reception room was also shared. Speaking about Sunninghill Park in the same Royal Wives of Windsor documentary, royal author Andrew Morton added: “The irony of the Duke and Duchess of York’s place, Sunninghill, was that it was the first example of a royal building in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.”

(Image: Daily Mirror)

5. Abandoned items left behind in a shed

Several abandoned items were left behind in a shed or an outbuilding at the house; these included gas canisters and a barbecue. After Sarah moved out in 2007, the Kazakh oligarch Timur Kulibayev became the new owner. The property was purchased through a competitive bidding process. After his purchase, the home remained empty for many years before becoming overrun with hundreds of bats.

(Image: Daily Mirror)
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/2161678/andrew-mountbatten-windsor-royal-lodge-pictures