OPINION – – It was an email sent by Prince Andrew to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein containing the promise that they would “play some more soon” that has now sealed his fate.
The email, sent in February 2011 but only recently confirmed to have been written by Andrew, revealed the prince had lied to the British public by claiming he had cut off all contact with Epstein in December the year before.
In 2019 Prince Andrew had told the BBC during his ill-fated Newsnight interview that meeting Epstein at his New York house had been a “wrong decision”. They had been photographed together walking through Central Park.
Prince Andrew, pictured at Sandringham at Christmas, is likely to be excluded from the event moving forward. (Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
He stepped back from all public duties just days after that television appearance, which was filmed inside Buckingham Palace, as public anger grew over his links to the disgraced financier.
What came next was a multi-million settlement with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, in February 2022, which put an end to legal proceedings she had initiated in a civil court. The prince denied liability in relation to Giuffre’s allegations.
The financial deal saved the royal family embarrassment during what was the late Queen Elizabeth II’s historic Platinum Jubilee year.
Three years on, King Charles has acted and done what his mother would not, or could not do, to prevent the monarchy from being pulled further into scandal.
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King Charles has acted now, amid growing criticism over Prince Andrew’s reputational damage to the monarchy. (Getty)
The Prince Andrew problem is, without doubt, one of the biggest royal scandals in modern history. If not, the biggest. And the most damaging.
Unfortunately for the monarch, the royal family won’t be able to distance itself from Prince Andrew as easily as telling him not to use his titles anymore.
But it had to happen now amid mounting outcry over why nothing was being done by the King to rein in the troublesome prince once and for all.
On Friday, in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace, Andrew said he had decided to stop using his titles “to put my duty to my family and country first”.
“In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family,” he said.
The Queen was said to be reluctant to strip her youngest son of his royal titles. (Getty)
While it was a monumental move for this to happen, Prince Andrew has not been stripped of his titles, nor have they been taken from him.
The King could have gone a step further by formally removing his brother’s dukedom but that would require an act of parliament, something which take a little longer though not impossible. A number of MPs in the UK are now putting pressure on British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to pass a law to strip Prince Andrew of his dukedom.
And there is precedent for this. The last royal to lose their dukedom happened more than 100 years ago, in 1919.
Then, Prince Charles Edward – one of Queen Victoria’s grandsons – lost the title of Duke of Albany for fighting on the German side during World War One and siding with the Nazis.
Prince Andrew and his ex-wife were last seen with the royal family at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral. (Jordan Pettitt – Pool/Getty Images)
This time, the feeling was that Buckingham Palace had to act now and do something in-house.
Scandal has long surrounded Prince Andrew and in July this year a new batch of negative headlines emerged following the publication of a biography by Andrew Lownie which delved into not only the prince’s past indiscretions but that of his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
Because Andrew’s titles are now in abeyance, Sarah cannot be known as Duchess of York anymore – a title she has used since their marriage in 1986 and even after their divorce a decade later.
The move is undoubtedly a bitter blow for Fergie, too, who has used the title throughout her career as a successful author and speaker, a post-royal life which saw her visit Australia late last year.
Sarah Ferguson has also lost the right to use her Duchess of York title. (Getty)
Her future writing books, especially those aimed at children, appears to be all but over.
Ferguson was recently dropped from a number of her charities and patronages after describing Epstein as a “supreme friend” in a recently-unearthed email after publicly condemning him.
Her work in promoting the importance of health checks and early detection following her own dual-diagnoses of cancer, is another unfortunate victim of the situation.
Beatrice and Eugenie
The impact on the couple’s two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, is yet to be seen.
The women – who both have young children – are not working royals but are often included at the royal family’s private, but public facing, occasions and state events such as the coronation and other important royal-linked events such as Royal Ascot and Christmas at Sandringham and Easter at Windsor Castle.
The former Duke and Duchess of York with their daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie in May, 2020. (Instagram/SarahFerguson15)
In what makes for very disturbing reading, a memoir written by Giuffre and published posthumously today, claims that when she was 17 and allegedly sexually abused by Prince Andrew – allegations which the prince has always denied – he told her: ”My daughters are a little younger than you”.
Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, are still expected to be invited to Christmas with the royals and other events, such as the Princess of Wales’ annual carols event at Windsor Abbey, because they have a close bond with the King and the Prince of Wales.
It is believed Charles’ affection for his nieces was behind the decision to put Andrew’s titles in abeyance, rather than have them formally removed.
The sisters, who have done nothing wrong, have been dragged into the mess purely by association. Both are incredibly close with their parents.
Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice have been caught up in the scandal involving their parents, through no fault of their own. (WPA Pool/Getty Images)
They were last seen in public, at separate events in London last week, but are said to have pulled out of appearance at the British Museum’s inaugural Pink Ball on Saturday night.
It would have been extremely brave, or ill-advised, to seen at such a high-profile event one day after the decision on their parents’ royal titles.
There will be huge scrutiny on Beatrice and Eugenie, who are ninth and 12th in line to the throne, respectively, when they do choose to break cover.
Both are understood to be mortified by the recent slew of headlines about their parents, as one would expect.
Beatrice was photographed visiting her father at the Royal Lodge on Monday but Eugenie, who lives in Portugal, has not been seen since hosting Jordan’s Princess Rajwa at a hospital event last week.
Prince Andrew’s future in doubt
Calls are also mounting for Prince Andrew and Ferguson to be kicked out of their country mansion, the 30-bedroom Grade II listed Royal Lodge on the Windsor Estate, following their downfall.
A smaller and less grand home better suited to their lower status would be more appropriate, some have suggested. Prince Andrew has avoided eviction from the Royal Lodge as he is the holder of a long-term lease with the Crown Estate, set to expire in 2078.
His source of income remains a mystery, apart from his $40k a year pension from the Royal Navy, after the King cut him off financially in 2024.
Andrew and Ferguson’s life together at the Royal Lodge looks to be a lonely one, perhaps even echoing the alienation the Duke and Duchess of Windsor faced after Edward VII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson.
They moved to France where they lived a life fulfilled by parties and social events but were forever shunned by the British royal family.
It has been suggested Prince Andrew and Ferguson should follow a similar path and move abroad, possibly to Switzerland in the ski resort of Verbier they love so much, or even the United States, which welcomed the former duchess when she was hard on her luck in the 1990s and early 2000s.
It is very possible we might never see Prince Andrew and Ferguson at a royal family event ever again.
Why has this happened now?
But back to the question of why now? Tomorrow, King Charles and Queen Camilla travel to the Vatican for an historic state visit that was postponed from April.
For the first time since the Reformation, a British monarch will pray alongside a Catholic pontiff when Charles and Pope Leo come together in the Sistine Chapel.
The Queen has also used her platform since marrying into the royal family in 2005 to campaign for victims of sexual violence and abuse.
The publication of Giuffre’s memoir, Nobody’s Girl, on Tuesday – along with more details expected to emerge from the Epstein files in the US – almost certainly guarantee more bad news for Prince Andrew and, by association, the royal family.
Prince Andrew’s presence at private family events, such as the royal Easter service at Windsor Castle, is likely to never happen again. (Yui Mok – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
The emergence of the email, which proved Andrew had stayed in touch with Epstein longer than he previously admitted, also reveals he lied while being interviewed by the BBC.
Journalist Emily Maitlis, who grilled the prince during that now-infamous chat, said “the events of the last week have made me reassess just about everything he told me that fateful day”.
“It mocks any idea of honour,” she wrote in The Times.
“It makes a mockery of Andrew’s own words. Moreover, it makes you rethink everything else he said.”
The Prince Andrew problem has been overshadowing the good work of the royal family for too long.
Andrew may find himself completely banished under the reign of his nephew, William, when the time comes. There are reports William is looking to exclude Andrew from his coronation, including all private and public royal events.
Prince William could ban his uncle from his coronation, when the time comes. (Samir Hussein/WireImage)
William himself recently said in a television interview he wanted to ensure the monarchy was “fit for purpose”, saying of his future as King: “Change is on my agenda. Change for good. I don’t fear it”.
Could Prince Harry and Meghan be next?
Another question that has been asked in the wake of Prince Andrew’s relinquishment of titles is whether the same could happen to Prince Harry and Meghan.
While the situation is vastly different, there have been ongoing calls for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to be stripped of their royal titles following their move to the US five years ago.
The Prince Andrew decision shows that it can be done: the King can put pressure on his relatives to stop using their titles, if he so wishes.
Prince Harry and Meghan have courted controversy since stepping back as senior working royals by countless interviews they’ve done in which they criticised the monarchy and their time in it.
Prince Harry and Meghan have courted controversy since stepping back as senior working royals. (Archewell Foundation via Getty I)
The Duke of Sussex published a tell-all book, Spare, in 2023, that brought huge embarrassment on his family by revealing a number of intimate, and private, details about his father and brother, and sister-in-law.
Prince Harry and Meghan’s focus is humanitarian, however, a large part of their move to the US was to earn their own money to fund their lifestyle without the help of the King and taxpayer.
The use of Harry and Meghan’s titles has come under fire, mainly because the couple are continuing to style themselves as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex while making money, something the late Queen Elizabeth II was against for members of her family who also perform official duties.
Crown Duels should royals be influencers long thumbnail (Supplied Nine)
They were banned from using the His/Her Royal Highness titles as part of their exit deal with the Queen, but earlier this year Meghan was found to have been using hers privately.
Could Prince Harry and Meghan be following the Prince Andrew developments with a sense of unease about their own titles?
Harry recently met with his father, face to face, for the first time in London in more than 19 months after publicly saying he wanted reconciliation.
They are said to want to return to Britain for various events moving forward, with some reports suggesting the couple could be back by the end of the year.
Perhaps Prince Andrew’s latest fall from grace could be seen as a warning of sorts to Prince Harry and Meghan of what might happen, however unlikely, if the royal family – and the monarchy’s – reputation is put at risk.
After all, duty to country has always come first for those in the top job.
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