It was one scandal too many.
After emails emerged this week exhibiting that Prince Andrew remained involved with the convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein longer than he beforehand admitted, the Home of Windsor lastly moved to insulate the monarchy from years of tawdry headlines about Andrew’s dodgy buddies and suspicious enterprise offers.
Buckingham Palace on Friday launched an announcement from Andrew saying that he had agreed to surrender use of his final remaining royal titles in order that continued allegations about him “don’t distract from the work of His Majesty.”
This week’s revelations demonstrated that Andrew had dedicated the unforgivable sin of deceptive the British public, mentioned Craig Prescott, an knowledgeable on the monarchy and constitutional legislation at Royal Holloway College of London.
“To say one thing which is confirmed to not be true, I believe, is the straw that broke the camel’s again,’’ he mentioned.
Indicators of a brand new path
The transfer comes as Charles, who’s 76 and present process therapy for an undisclosed type of most cancers, works to make sure the long-term stability of the monarchy underneath his son and inheritor Prince William.
William lately gave an interview by which he set out his imaginative and prescient for the monarchy, saying that the establishment wanted to alter to ensure that it’s a drive for good.
“In some ways, Prince Andrew has been the exact opposite of that,” Prescott mentioned. “And there is no space for that in the modern monarchy.”
Andrew, 65, is the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth II. He spent greater than 20 years as an officer within the Royal Navy earlier than leaving to take up his royal duties in 2001.
Following Friday’s announcement, Andrew will not use his remaining royal titles, together with the Duke of York, although he technically retains them. Formally stripping him of these titles could be a time-consuming course of requiring an act of Parliament.
A very long time coming
Andrew’s banishment completes a course of that started in November 2019, when he gave up all of his public duties and charity roles.
That was triggered by a disastrous interview Andrew gave to the BBC as he sought to counter media studies about his friendship with Epstein and deny allegations that he had intercourse with a 17-year-old woman, Virginia Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein in 2001. The prince was broadly criticized for failing to indicate empathy for Epstein’s victims and for providing unbelievable explanations for his friendship with the disgraced financier.
The interview additionally sowed the seeds of this week’s upheaval, when Andrew informed the BBC that he had reduce off contact with Epstein in December 2010.
British newspapers on Sunday revealed that Andrew wrote an e mail to Epstein on Feb. 28, 2011. Andrew wrote the be aware after renewed reporting on the Epstein scandal, telling him they have been “in this together” and would “have to rise above it.”
Andrew has lately confronted one other spherical of dirty tales as newspapers launch excerpts of Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, which will likely be printed on Tuesday. Giuffre died by suicide in April on the age of 41.
Andrew in 2022 reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre after she filed a civil swimsuit towards him in New York. Whereas he didn’t admit wrongdoing, Andrew did acknowledge Giuffre’s struggling as a sufferer of intercourse trafficking.
Entrance-page fodder for mistaken causes
The prince has been the topic of tabloid tales stretching again to at the very least 2007, when he bought his home close to Windsor Fort for 20% over the 15 million pound asking value. The client was reported to be Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of Nursultan Nazarbayev, then-president of Kazakhstan, elevating considerations that the deal was an try to purchase affect in Britain.
Final yr, a courtroom case revealed Andrew’s relationship with a businessman and suspected Chinese language spy who was barred from the UK as a menace to nationwide safety. Authorities have been involved that the person might have misused his affect over Andrew, based on courtroom paperwork.
Whereas the palace mentioned Andrew had determined to surrender his royal titles, royal commentator Jennie Bond mentioned the king and Prince William exerted “enormous pressure” on him.
“We could say he has fallen on his sword, but I think he’s been pushed onto it,” Bond informed the BBC. “I don’t think this is a decision that Andrew, quite an arrogant man — very, very fond of his status — would have willingly made without a lot of pressure.”
Insulating the monarchy at a fragile time
Whereas the cumulative weight of Andrew’s scandals demanded a response from the royal household, this week’s revelations got here at a very delicate second for the king as he prepares for a state go to to the Vatican, the place he’s anticipated to wish beside Pope Leo XIV.
The go to is essential to Charles, who has made the bridging of faiths an essential a part of his “mantra,” mentioned George Gross, an knowledgeable on theology and the monarchy at King’s School, London.
“I think this was the speediest, really the quickest way of lowering his status even more without having to go to Parliament,” Gross mentioned. “Even when Parliament would have authorized, it takes time.’’
Charles may additionally have been motivated by a want to guard the work of Queen Camilla, who has made combating home violence certainly one of her signature points, and the Duchess of Edinburgh, who has sought to fight sexual violence in warfare zones equivalent to Congo.
The king will hope that this transfer lastly attracts a line between Andrew and the remainder of the royal household, Prescott mentioned.
“If there are allegations, or further stuff comes out, it will all be on Prince Andrew,” he mentioned. “They’ve severed the connection between Prince Andrew and the monarchy as an institution.”
