Alongside the season change, these last two months have seen an unmistakable transition for the Royal Family.
Subtle at first, cue King Charles and Prince William’s ‘father and son’ trip to Balmoral last month, before reaching its peak last week when Buckingham Palace released a damning statement stripping the former ‘Prince’ Andrew of all of his royal titles.
Like winter, this new royal raison d’etre appears to be taking no prisoners, with numerous reports suggesting that Prince William, 43 has been the one to usher in this new, tougher stance for the monarchy.
Now we’re told that Prince Harry, 41, and Meghan Markle, 44, are following all of these latest developments involving Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson extremely closely from their home in Montecito, as a source says the Sussexes have now launched a charm offensive to win over William.
Our insider tells heat, ‘Harry has been chipping away at his brother for months, sending olive branches galore and hoping he’ll come to the negotiating table to at least iron out a compromise that would see some type of truce. But William continues to turn him down flat, he’s got no interest in breaking bread with Harry, let alone forgiving him, and that’s even with Kate in his ear as well as his father.’
We reported back in September how William had been adamant that Andrew, 65, needed to be removed from public appearances and royal life entirely, while other members of The Firm disagreed – seemingly prompting Andrew to cling on for all its worth.
A source told us at the time, ‘Prince William can’t stand his uncle Andrew and would love to see him booted from the royal household for good, but he’s not getting much support as he’d like from other family members and it’s causing escalating tension behind the scenes.
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‘He thinks it’s ridiculous that Andrew is still being tolerated and invited to certain functions, he wouldn’t allow his uncle to darken any royal door at this point.’
Royal author Tom Sykes also said last month that William had been ‘deeply unhappy’ over what he believed to have been a ‘bodged agreement’ with Andrew as the disgraced former Duke continued to hit headlines for his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
And despite hitting headlines for vastly different reasons, we’re told that as the Sussexes continue to profit from their royal monikers, they are now rightfully terrified that their own titles could be next on the chopping board.
The insider says, ‘It’s an open secret that William was the driving force behind Andrew and Fergie getting stripped of their titles. There’s no way Charles would have taken that step without William pushing so hard for it.
‘And it’s common knowledge that Harry and Meghan will probably lose their titles once William becomes King, so the only thing they can do is pray for a miracle. They’re very frightened and saying it’s like this Sword of Damocles that’s constantly hanging over their heads.’
With William now currently taking the helm as he embarks on his Royal Tour of Brazil, there has been an undeniable shift at the top, and it’s been made clear that the next in-line to the throne is now calling a lot of the shots as King Charles continues to receive treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.
‘Most people within the palace will tell you that William is now pretty well running the show and he’s doing it with a very heavy hand,’ our source adds.
On Tuesday, William and Kate – alongside their children Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven – also moved into a bigger house, Royal Lodge, within the grounds of Windsor, which to many has been seen as a more ‘fitting’ home for the next King and Queen.
Meanwhile, the Sussexes have remained uncharacteristically silent during the fall of the house of York but, when discussing his own legal battle for state security when visiting the UK, Harry did compare his own plight with his uncles.
In his 2023 memoir, Spare, he wrote, ‘[Andrew] was embroiled in a shameful scandal, accused of the sexual assault of a young woman and no one had so much suggested that he lose his security. Whatever grievances people had against us, sex crimes weren’t on the list.’
Now while the source says Harry and Meghan ‘approve’ of Andrew being stripped of his titles, they add, ‘But they haven’t done anything like what Andrew’s guilty of, so it boggles their minds that they’d even be in the same conversation.’
However, after a tough few years for the monarchy, William has spoken openly about the type of monarchy he wants to create in a climate of uncertainty.
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Speaking on Eugene Levy’s The Reluctant Traveller, William said, ‘I want to create a world in which my son is proud of what we do. A world and a job that does actually impact people’s lives for the better…Change is on the agenda.’
And the source says that Meghan and Harry’s accusations of racism and bullying against the Royal Family through their various interviews and TV shows have been seen by William as having done ‘just as much damage to the monarchy as Andrew has’.
They add, ‘He sees it as his duty to punish them for that. He’s especially furious that Meghan is still milking her royal title for gobs of cash and has made no secret of the fact that he finds it insulting to the hardworking members of the family that Meghan and Harry are allowed to get away with this grifting.
‘William is a methodical guy, he’s taking this step by step and now that he’s done with Andrew and Sarah, he’s putting his focus on Meghan and Harry.’
There’s no doubt that the coming months could prove a vulnerable time for the Sussexes financially. After riding high for almost five years on the mega-deal contracts they had previously signed with the likes of Spotify and Penguin, their most profitable hand-shake with Netflix was recently downgraded to a much lesser ‘First Look Deal’.
And with viewing figures for her lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan, plummeting and her lifestyle hustle, As Ever, reportedly facing dire straits, we’re told it could now be a race against time for Brand Sussex.
‘It’s no wonder they’re shaking in their boots because when William finally does bring down the axe it will be a complete disaster for them,’ the insider says.
‘They may try to act above it all but their whole brand is built around their connection to the royals, it’s the backbone of everything. Losing their titles is going to make them irrelevant.’
They add, ‘Aside from trying to work things out with William, their only option is to cash in as much as they can now, which they’re furiously trying to do. But the overwhelming feeling right now is one of defeat because there really doesn’t seem to be any way of escaping William’s wrath.’
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