Stubborn King Charles 'refuses' to ditch toxic Prince Andrew despite updates
The King is intent on having Prince Andrew in the family fold despite warnings from Prince William that the Duke of York is “toxic” and should be banished for good, insiders say.
Charles has assured his brother he “won’t be abandoned”, despite being named 69 times across hundreds of pages of legal documents containing details of sex abuse carried out by paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. Royal sources say the King “feels a sense of duty” to his late mother to ensure Andrew “isn’t cut adrift”. However, amid calls for Scotland Yard to investigate the Duke over his relationship with pal Epstein, insiders say the King would only take further action if his brother faces criminal charges.
One insider said: “Charles’ position has not changed in terms of allowing Andrew back into the family fold. As King, he decided to order the rest of the family to fall in line and welcome him back and that was the end of the matter. [Charles] had discussed it with others, including Prince William, but his decision was final. Charles promised his late mother he would not abandon Andrew once she was gone and that remains the situation, unless of course he finds himself engaged in a criminal matter.”
William, wife Kate, and brother Harry (Getty Images)William last year issued a warning to his father over welcoming Andrew back into the family, suggesting that, given the scale of the Epstein scandal, the Duke could not be certain that more allegations of sexual misconduct would not emerge.
A source said: “William was very clear [that in his view] Andrew can not be trusted. There are investigations and revelations emerging in the cases brought by Epstein’s victims. This will haunt Andrew and the family for ever. In William’s view, [Andrew] should have no role with the family at all.”
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Friends of the Duke say he is “finally waking up” to the fact that despite returning to the family fold he will probably never be involved in royal duties again. But pals added he was apprehensive about being named in further court documents relating to American billionaire Epstein and his former lover Ghislaine Maxwell. British socialite Maxwell, 62, was jailed in 2022 for 20 years for procuring girls for Epstein to abuse.
Andrew was forced to stand down as a working royal in 2019 over his friendship with sex offender Epstein. The Duke was later stripped by Elizabeth II of his honorary military roles, and gave up his HRH style. Following Elizabeth’s death in 2022, the King invited Andrew to his coronation and last summer the Duke was seen being driven to church by the Prince and Princess of Wales during the royals’ stay at Balmoral.
Despite requests by the monarch for Andrew to vacate 30-room mansion Royal Lodge in Windsor, Berks, in exchange for a smaller property, the Duke has refused to move. Any attempts to evict him would be difficult given Andrew, 63, has an 80-year lease on the property and is permitted to stay as long as he can pay for maintenance at the residence. On Christmas Day, Andrew walked to church with the rest of the Royal Family at Sandringham. His appearance was viewed as part of a gradual rehabilitation in the monarchy.
Andrew has been thrust back into the spotlight this week when he and other famous figures were named in US court documents detailing connections to Epstein. The papers, of which 300 of around 1,000 have now been unsealed, formed part of a 2015 civil court defamation case brought against Maxwell by Prince Andrew’s sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre. The Prince paid Ms Giuffre £12million in 2022 to halt a civil trial in the US. He has always denied wrongdoing and the payment was not an admission of liability.
Ms Giuffre, who is now 40, claimed she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 and 18 – at Maxwell’s home in London, at Epstein’s house in New York and at an alleged orgy on Epstein’s private Caribbean island. Other newly released papers from the 2015 case reveal Ms Giuffre also claimed she was sex-trafficked to “two of the world’s most respected politicians”. The names are redacted. Documents also show Maxwell claimed a journalist helped Ms Giuffre to “concoct” sex assault allegations against Andrew.
Files unsealed earlier contain a claim Andrew groped a woman’s breast. The papers do not reveal any major new accusations about Epstein or his associates, including the Duke. Andrew has denied any wrongdoing. Epstein, 66, died by suicide in a US jail in 2019 as he awaited trial for underage sex trafficking.
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