Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his former wife Sarah Ferguson are said to be feeling “fragile” as the deadline looms for the disgraced former prince to leave his mansion in Windsor. The ex-Duke of York has been stripped of his titles and military ranks for his association with the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

It was announced the 65-year-old would also be forced to give up his 30-bed Royal Lodge property on the Windsor estate after an outcry when it emerged he had been paying a peppercorn rent for the property. The former prince was stripped of his titles last year after the posthumous release of Virginia Giuffre’s book Nobody’s Girl.

The memoir, which gives her account of being trafficked by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, includes allegations against a number of other individuals including Andrew. The book details previous claims that she was forced to have sex with the former prince on three occasions, including when she was 17.

Andrew has repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegations. He paid millions to Ms Giuffre to settle a civil sexual assault case, despite claiming never to have met her.

Both Andrew and Sarah, 66, are due to leave Royal Lodge on January 30. The Daily Mail reports the former duchess, affectionately known as Fergie, has been bursting into tears on an almost daily basis, and police have revoked Andrew’s firearms licence.

Andrew is expected to take up residence in the much more humble surroundings of Marsh Farm on the royal Sandringham Estate, in Norfolk. Workmen were seen at the property errecting a 6ft wooden fence and security lighting and cameras around the five-bedroom abode. 

Mash Farm has been empty for several years and is being renovated to make it habitable before Andrew is expected to move there, according to a report in The Sun.

It is around two miles from the King’s Sandringham House where a source told the Daily Mail Andrew is expected to stay briefly “until Marsh Farm is finished”. The Mail said friends of the Andrew and Sarah were worried they were in a “fragile state”.

The source added Sarah and Andrew “obviously don’t want to move to Norfolk” but that they had been “made redundant on generous terms”. The source said: “I suspect that Andrew will have more of a skeleton staff when he eventually moves into Marsh Farm, as it’s not realistic to employ so many people to look after one person on their own.”