We’ve been playing the “will Prince Andrew actually have to face some consequences” game for four solid years. Longer than that, really, because Andrew’s association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell was common knowledge for more than two decades. Sh-t hit the fan when Andrew sat down for that BBC interview in the fall of 2019 though, and ever since, it’s been a game of “he’s no longer a working royal” and “but he still lives in a mansion and tries to talk his mother into launching a comeback for her favorite son” and “but Charles hates him” and “but Charles is perfectly fine with having Andrew around for various holidays and vacations.” The latest WTF is that Andrew, Fergie and their daughters are vacationing at Balmoral right now, and Andrew was chauffeured to church by Prince William on Sunday. People are starting to wonder if Charles is grooming his human trafficker brother for a comeback. Buckingham Palace ran to the Mail to say of course not. Hm.
King Charles is ‘absolutely resolute’ that Prince Andrew will not return to public duties and there will be no ‘change in tack’ over his royal status, insiders have claimed.
The Duke of York, 63, was seen in a car with the Prince and Princess of Wales as the family travelled to church in Balmoral yesterday in what has been branded as a ‘public statement of togetherness’. But while Andrew appeared to be well and truly back in the royal fold, experts say Charles remains firms there is ‘no possibility’ of him returning to royal duties.
A source told The Telegraph: ‘He has always been clear that the Duke is a much-loved member of the family, but that does not mean there will be a change in tack when it comes to his royal status.’
However, royal insiders allege that while Andrew will not return to public life, the King has made it clear ‘privately’ that he will ‘support his brother and help him get his life back on track’ – as evidenced by the Balmoral outing.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline the photographs of Prince Andrew travelling to church with the Waleses were ‘clearly intended to send a message of family unity’. But he insisted it was not a sign Andrew could return to public duties in any form. ‘This is a sad time for the royal family on their customary break at Balmoral. They and the nation will shortly be commemorating a year since the death of the Queen. We know how close Andrew was to the late Queen, his appearance at the Duke of Edinburgh’s Memorial Service in March 2022, where he supported her physically whilst she was giving him emotional and financial support caused much controversy. It has been reported that his allowance has been cut.’
But Mr Fitzwilliams added: ‘It is important to stress that there is no possibility, as King Charles and Prince William have always realised, of him returning to public duties in any form. A glance at his non-existent popularity ratings in the polls make the public mood very clear on this issue. However what is being emphasised is harmony on a personal level and clearly he and his immediate family, who are also at Balmoral, will appreciate this a great deal, especially as the photographs we see today are such a very public statement of togetherness.’
While I’m loath to give King Charles the benefit of the doubt on anything at any time, I simply don’t believe that Charles cares enough about Andrew to even plot out some strategy to bring Andrew “back” to whatever working-royal status or what have you. Charles’s goal here is much simpler – he wanted the temporary visuals of a “happy family” gathered at Balmoral for his first summer as king, because Charles is terrified that one of these days, people will start to pick up on the fact that he’s a dogsh-t father. Like, this is all about Charles’s self-preservation, and it’s also about all of the Windsors’ single-minded obsession with Prince Harry. Everything here with Andrew is designed with Harry in mind. Charles wants to look benevolent (towards Andrew), he wants to look family-oriented (except he evicted his son, DIL and grandbabies from their British home). He also wants to say: look, this is the path Harry could take, if only he would come groveling back to us and let us control him, abuse him and manipulate him.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
And yet, Andrew still makes a great living. Doing nothing. During a cost of living crisis. Because he’s better than all of us because of his God-ordained DNA.
Must be nice. To live off the dole. Funded by the destitute. Because your family raped, pillaged, subjugated, enslaved, and stole from the rest of the world. And to think you worked hard for what you have. When you never worked for it at all.
I believe Charles was toying with the idea of rehabilitating Andrew and this trip was a trial balloon to test public acceptance. Given the new allegations of Andrew’s possible crimes in the Ukraine involving very young children, I would say all bets are off.
His sons begged him not to marry her. He promised that she would never be queen when he did. Years later this man who broke his promise addresses his public as to the status of his pedophilic younger brother. Please tune into the next episode of How King Charles Spins.
They are all pedophiles, rapists and closeted at the same time. Andrew has receipts on all of them and they all are terrified of him telling, so they do everything possible to be sure to keep him in the fold. I think he’s blackmailing the whole lot and they know he’s got all the power and they can’t even dare call his bluff. These inbreds and trash. There’s a god reason why Chuckie-sausages and Peggs-or-2 backed off of Royal Lodge.
Taytanish, What you say makes total sense to me, but I have trouble believing it because of what these a-holes did to H&M. Granted, Harry seems unwilling to go scorched earth on his Daddy Dearest, which I cannot see PA also doing. However CRex and the rest seem to have an over-active “the cruelty is the point” chip embedded in their brains.
CRex has the right to secretly tweak laws, he and Peggington have squashed stories via collateral gossip and/ or lawsuits, they are in bed with the tabloids.
Paedrew is pretty much universally despised. There have to be a bleep-ton of stories about him, and guaranteed the tabloids will cheerfully publish what he’s done while avoiding the king and his firstborn. 1. Prince A is corrupt, immoral, unlikeable and needs a steady stream of cash. If CRex cut him off, the chance of more dirt is basically a given. Fergie is also cash-strapped and helpful if they are ant to use her in that way. And in Great Britain, it will be much harder for Paedrew to make money on a tell-all. Harry published his memoir from the States.
Personally, I think they were possibly trying to get PA back and have him taxpayer supported so that KC’s billions remain untouched and they have help with the workload. They constantly show us with their actions that they love this a-hole and hate H&M.
100% agree, Taytanish. Naught to do with any royal mythology about “happy families” for the benefit of the press, and everything to do with What Andrew Knows, and what he could spill for cash to the wider world. Andrew isn’t being manipulated, he’s doing his own manipulating, to cement his place in the family, protect the Yorks, and avoid being cast out like Harry was even though Andrew is of far lesser value in terms of his usefulness to The Firm.
Chucky and Workshy are being blackmailed by the British Media on one side, and by Andrew on the other. The media could go much harder on Andrew but don’t; and I don’t think it’s out of deference to Chucky, because they have none for him, not really. He’s their Useful Idiot and nothing more. I think the media are gunshy about throwing Andrew to the wolves out of a sense of self-preservation: What Andrew Knows might implicate more than just powerful people in the BRF, but in the wider British Establishment as well. That means Parliament, BBC, and other media entities. We had a whiff of this some years back with the Jimmy Saville/BBC scandal (whose friendship with Chucky rivaled the scandalousness of Andrew’s friendship with Epstein). This is why Chucky is happy to cater to Andrew and the tabloids are happy to follow suit – because blow the whistle on Andrew fully, or attack him in any way, and they blow the whistle on themselves.
Charles looks so smug in that picture. Charles allowed Andrew to wear garter robes at the coronation and he was.not allowed to wear them at public events. Charles will bend the rules for him again in the future. Imo.
And i think thats because Charles is genuinely scared of Andy and all the kompromat he may have. If Andy goes rogue it will be a bigger disataster than anything the Sussexes get blamed for. He has no choice but to appease him somewhat.
As long as he is not on the publics purse, at the end of the day he is still a family member. Did the public think he will be banished to the dungeon ?
Andrew is obviously being pushed back out into the spotlight. He is wanted for questioning by the f b i. He never had to face criminal charges. His mother paid the civil lawsuit. Taxpayers support the dysfunction of the family. And at the same time Charles and William forced out Harry and Meghan. The hypocrisy of the family knows no bounds.
He is a pedophile who destroyed the lives of young women. Where do you think he belongs?
This is my take. As vile as he is, he is still QEs son. He was also rumored to be her favorite.
This is not a push to make him a working royal.. The tabs refer to him as disgraced Prince Andrew. They will never let that go. This is a way to monitor what he is doing while pretending that this summer is business as usual.
I think it’s both. The Palace is trying to a pave the way for Andrew to return to royal duties and it’s about their obsession with Harry.
Being loving and generous to pedophile, rapist Andrew while continuing to marginalize his own non-scandalous son is not the flex Charles seems to think it is.
It’s like Charlee wants yet another useless shiny metal for not sending the con man who banged sex trafficked teens out to represent England.
And he think it makes him look good to keep supporting this con man who’s never worked a day in his life.
Inbred, born wealthy and told they were chosen by god.
You know they cling to the hope that’s true- all evidence to the contrary.
And yet Andrew was in a car with Pegs & Buttons. Not with Charles. Was this intentional (on Charles’s part) so that if there was backlash, William would get the brunt of it?
Did Andrew threaten to drag skeletons out of closets?
Do they really think this will make Harry desperate to return to his former life of abuse?
I can’t decide what I think is happening here.
I’m not sure it’s about family unity either. Last week there was a small mention in the press that Kate showed up at Balmoral with the kids and that William would join her later. I think William came up on Friday or Saturday and they needed a quick “Look, the family is together” photo and by family I mean Will and Kate, the estranged ones. Andrew was thrown into the mix so that the press about the photo was about Andrew, and not more chatter about William missing the World Cup or arriving separately.
Burger King is the ultimate user, and he already was roasted for using Charlotte as a shield. He would think nothing though of using Andrew for deflection, even if it means associating with a pedo. Also, I love the previously stated theories that Will and Andrew got in the car together at Balmoral then swung down to pick up Kate wherever she is staying and that’s why she ended up in the backseat.
oooooohhhh I didn’t realize they arrived separately again this year. And someone (maybe you @Harper?) pointed out the other day that they also arrived separately last year. If you live together, wouldn’t you travel together? I know people are going to say William can’t travel with the heirs, but that’s obviously not true since they do travel together for vacations. And even if he had to take a separate plane – wouldn’t it still be on the same day? Why would he wait a few days unless he was staying somewhere else and on a completely separate schedule?
It really does make sense that Kate’s in the back bc she was picked up last by William. Otherwise they would have gotten in the car together. So where is William staying and where is Kate staying? It ain’t together.
So interesting, @Harper! I didn’t know that they arrived separately again. And I agree with the reasoning for Kate being in the back seat like a total afterthought.
And a big YES to William using anybody he can get his hands on to deflect from his own pathetic actions!
I’m one of the people who takes yougov surveys and the last one was interesting, asking about which members of the RF I thought favourably of. No Prince Harry on the list. Meghan was, not Harry. Charles, Camilla, Anne, Andrew but not the Wessex’s if I remember correctly. I wonder if they are going to keep taking the pulse as it were around Andrew’s popularity.
How strange — and how biased — to have Meghan in the list, but not Harry. It’s such a set up for emphasizing the possibility that Meghan will rank low on their list, while completely avoiding the possibility of Harry’s continuing popularity. Thanks, @ janey, for giving us a sense of just one of the ways yougov manipulates the responses of people taking these surveys— before even getting to any so-called “data”.
The Royal rota clutch their pearls and get hysterical over the Oprah interview, yet rarely mention that disaster with Andrew on the BBC getting raked by Emily Maitlis.
All the perks and no work? Sounds pretty good for Andrew.
That headline makes me think the opposite.
Crazy idea: maybe Charles is playing along with slowly letting Andrew back in the fold so andrew feels protected, thinks he is above the law (more so) and does something stupid. So stupid that Charles can really ban him. (The “giving them enough rope to hang himself” theory.)
I think this was a test balloon to see how the public reacted, and Charles was smart by putting it onto W&K. I don’t think he wants Andrew back as a working royal, to be honest, but I don’t think he minds having Andrew at Balmoral or on the christmas walk etc and wants there to be acceptance for that.
I feel like they do this test balloon every few months when there’s a family event. And the public response is always the same. Nobody wants wants to see him. Do they really think they’re going to just one day get a better outcome😂?
Hope springs eternal for them, I guess, lol.
Carrot on the stick. Dangling Andrew in Harry’s face is just another way for Charles to abuse Harry; come home alone and you can be welcomed too.
Right, because we know if Charles is anything, he’s a man of his word. /s
It’s baffling. Even if the family is okay with uncle pedo, they still have a reputation to maintain, and trotting him out for church with the Wails…is baffling.
I guess the Windsors are tired of playing nice. They’re going to do what they want, public opinion be damned.
There seem to be some mixed messages going on here, unless William and Kate have gone rogue and are trying to push Andrew back into senior royal duties to try and take the burden off of themselves. Now that would be interesting!
Andrew has dirt on William and Kate. The car ride with Andrew in front and Kate in back sends a power play message .
However, Kate still managed to let the camera get a clear shot of her face. Make of that what you will.
Andrew is getting all the perks of royalty without doing any of the “work”.
I think it’s disgusting that the “source” told the Telegraph that Andrew is a “much-loved member of the family,” using the very same language that Charles used to describe H&M.
The continual attempts to link Harry and Meghan with Pedrew in the public mind are just appalling.
I think the Queen’s communications team called Harry and Meghan “much loved members” of the family. Charles has not said anything kind, loving, or even positive about Harry or Meghan for public consumption that I can recall.
My first reaction to all of KC3’s comments is this: If his mouth moves, he’s lying. The man has no loyalty to anyone but Queenzilla Camilla. He’d be fine with Pedo Andrew returning as a “working royal.” But the global backlash of having Andrew represent the Crown (and the UK) would be enormous. That is the only reason Charles continues to keep his brother in the deep freeze.
The continuing conversation around Andrew is mainly about a change in policy to accommodate Harry’s return, despite the rhetoric the tabloid media in England is aware how much the Sussex’s’ sell.
They find themselves in a situation whereby as private citizens they are debarred from being at events sponsored by them.
If Harry and Meghan become part-time then the media can make their impossible demands of reporting reputational challenges, meanwhile they lack character as an industry.
Andrew has friends in this realm, who refuse that he is capable of what he has been accused of, they deem the relationship with Epstein as one of mostly finances…
This is not opinion, but it is widely shared and as such they see no problems for him to return in some limited capacity…
The King is not adverse to him being around, he no longer warrants the spotlight, so he is not a threat, and his inclusion let the family seemed less dysfunctional.
So there…….
I did not mind Charles till he married Dianne. She was led like a lamb to the slaughter house. No one should marry anyone when they are in love with someone else. The one and only reason he married Dianne was to have children. That was the totally cruel. There were other women he could have married, ones that knew the score. When she became engaged she had no idea that Charles was still in love with C. The whole so called “royal family” treated her like trash! They were never ashamed of how they treated her! What made me really mad was how the Queen treated her. As far as I know Dianne was only there to pop out babies, at least two males which she did.