King Charles III doesn't have to look far to see just how limited his powers are - he can't even get his younger brother Prince Andrew to obey him.
A real estate row between the two brothers has now reached farcical proportions with the disgraced Andrew making a mockery of his big brother's pressure campaign to get him to leave his grace-and-favor home, which in theory is in the king's gift.
Andrew has now hired builders to do some much-needed repairs on the damp and mold problems at his $46million house Royal Lodge in an effort to stop his brother throwing him out - thanks to cash he inherited from their mother, Queen Elizabeth.
But while the works are on, he won't move out, in case the King takes the keys.
Initially Andrew - who was forced out of royal duties after settling a sex-abuse case with Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre in 2022 - had claimed he couldn't afford to do the work on the 30-room property which comes with a swimming pool and tennis court, and which he still shares with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
Charles was then going to use Andrew's plea of poverty to push him out in favor of someone who could afford to do it. Now that excuse is gone.
To add insult to the insubordination, Andrew has loaned the house Charles had offered him instead - the five-bedroom Frogmore Cottage where Prince Harry and Meghan lived - to his daughter Princess Eugenie.
In the meantime, poor Prince William - the heir to the throne - has been left stewing in a small four-bedroom house on the estate; his father's aim of giving him the Royal Lodge to live in, seemingly up in smoke.
"For now, Andrew has got one over his brother and we will see how long it lasts," says a royal source.
"Work started on the Royal Lodge this month and will extend to the end of the summer.
"Andrew was advised that he should move out while work was undertaken because the house is virtually a building site but he's refused because he's so terrified that the property might be seized in his absence.
"In the meantime, Harry and Meghan vacated Frogmore after being told they needed to leave to make way for Andrew but he is refusing to go there, even though he was given the keys.
"He's allowing Eugenie to stay there. She's just given birth to her second child so while she recovers and gets back on her feet, she's staying in Frogmore to be near her mum and dad."
We understand that the Prince - who had been pleading (relative) poverty - is using money left to him by the late Queen Elizabeth to pay for the work on the house. It was long said that he was her favorite child.
"He's been quite open about where the money has come from because he doesn't want people to think he's come up with it through other means," adds the source.
"The costs are expected to reach into the hundreds of thousands of pounds."
To be fair to Andrew, he has poured millions into the home and when he took a 75-year lease on it following the death of his grandmother, the Queen Mother, he expected it would be his home for life.
The real estate row has been brewing for some time. The King had planned to move his family around the various houses of the Windsor Estate surrounding the historic Windsor Castle and it now leaves him with a problem; what to do with Prince William's family with the three children all enrolled in local schools.
"William and Catherine have resigned themselves, for now, to staying in their small house but it won't work in the long term," adds the source.
"There are four bedrooms which just about fits them all but they need space for staff and for offices. They desperately want a larger property for their family in the Windsor area and discussions were originally focused on putting Royal Lodge.
"But Andrew was having none of it and is adamant that he will see out that end of his lease at Royal Lodge."