A striking bruise covering part of former Prince Andrew’s face has sparked questions after new photographs showed the ex-royal near his home.
The 66-year-old was behind the wheel near his Marsh Farm residence on the Sandringham estate when photographers captured the purple mark stretching from his right temple to his cheek.
A source close to the former Duke of York told the U.K.’s Daily Mail that the prominent patch is not a “cause for concern” and that there has been “no drama.” The insider declined to provide further details, citing medical confidentiality. Buckingham Palace does not speak on Andrew’s behalf because he is no longer a working royal.
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“We are advised there is no cause for concern or need for a ‘hoo ha,’” British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital. “However, tongues are obviously wagging.”
British royal expert Hilary Fordwich also told Fox News Digital, “It’s rather ludicrous” that the bruise is seemingly being brushed off by those close to King Charles’ younger brother.
“We can clearly see a ghastly, huge bruise,” she said. “It was characterized as something ‘routine’ medically, but that’s difficult to imagine. Sadly, this obfuscation doesn’t bode well for public trust. If it was due to a medical procedure, just tell us what it was.”
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It’s unclear when or how Andrew sustained the discoloration. He has been based at Sandringham since February, where he initially stayed at Prince Philip’s Wood Farm before moving to Marsh Farm in April. Andrew was evicted from Royal Lodge, his 30-room mansion, in October 2025.
“The reported medical condition said to be behind the bruise is going to create more speculation about the accident-prone former prince,” royal broadcaster Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital.
Andrew has rarely been seen in public since a security scare on the estate last month.
According to Norfolk Police, officers responded after receiving reports that “a man was behaving in an intimidating manner in the village” and later arrested him on suspicion of a public-order offense and possession of an offensive weapon.
“Alex Jenkinson, aged 39 and of Stowmarket, Suffolk, has since been charged with two counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior to harass someone or cause alarm or distress and failing to provide a specimen of blood in custody,” officials told Fox News Digital.
Jenkinson is accused of approaching Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor while wearing a mask and shouting at the former prince as he walked his dogs near his home.
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Author Andrew Lownie previously wrote in his book “Entitled” that Andrew’s health is “not good, occasioned by recent stress, making him look much older than his real age.”
“The information I’m getting from people close to him is that he doesn’t think he’s going to be charged [after being arrested in February],” Lownie told Fox News Digital. Lownie described the former prince as a “narcissist.”
“He’s actually quite cocky,” Lownie claimed. “He’s much more interested in rather trivial questions, like where he’s going to park his car, and [whether] he’s going to be able to go riding. He doesn’t seem to have taken on the enormity of the position that he’s in.”
On Friday, the National Audit Office, a U.K. public-spending watchdog, released a report stating that Andrew made money by subletting three cottages on the estate where he lived rent-free for more than two decades.
A lease for Royal Lodge signed in 2003 shows he paid only a nominal fee known as a “peppercorn rent,” which included Royal Lodge and eight cottages, three of which he was allowed to sublet.
The report did not disclose the amount of income Andrew earned, an omission Margaret Hodge, a Labour member of the House of Lords and former head of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, told The Associated Press was concerning.
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The review was conducted at lawmakers’ request after Andrew was stripped of his royal titles by the king following revelations about his friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In February, Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and later released under investigation. He has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged. He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
