Moment that sealed Prince Andrew’s fate as Palace releases bombshell statement
There was a key turning point in the downfall of Andrew, the disgraced royal formerly known as the prince.
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Nearly six years ago to the day, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor (then Prince Andrew) stepped down from royal duties following a truly disastrous TV interview.
It barely needs reminding. Anyone who happened to miss the original – and excruciating – BBC Newsnight episode would most likely have caught at least one of the multiple dramatisations of the event in the years that followed.
Andrew has been mired in scandal for more than a decade. He has been very publicly accused of sexual abuse by the late Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that one of their encounters occurred when she was just 17 years old and a victim of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew has vehemently denied all allegations of wrongdoing. He paid an out-of-court settlement reportedly worth $24 million to Ms Giuffre in 2022 – but without any admission of liability.
When asked by journalist Emily Maitlis if he had any “guilt, regret or shame” about his “behaviour” or “friendship” with the convicted sex offender during that infamous interview in 2019, Andrew was firm.
“As far as my association with him was concerned, it had some seriously beneficial outcomes in areas that have nothing … to do with what I would describe as what we’re talking about today,” he responded earnestly.
“ … The people that I met and the opportunities that I was given to learn either by him or because of him were actually very useful.”
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It was during that same interview that he declared he had flown to Manhattan to personally break off his friendship with Epstein, at the time already convicted of sex offences, as it was the honourable thing to do, and that that occasion in late 2010 had been the last time they’d ever spoken.
Earlier this month, an overwhelmingly friendly email sent from Andrew to Epstein leaked – three months after that date, proving that his original statement was a lie.
Combined with the harrowing allegations released around the same time within Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl, Andrew’s statement on October 17 via Buckingham Palace was barely a surprise.
He was voluntarily giving up the “use” of his Duke of York title, borne of an overwhelming sense of duty to his country, as he no longer wanted to “distract” from the work of the monarchy.
There was no mention of Ms Giuffre, of Epstein’s victims, or of the world he had (at best) been deeply tainted by, by association.
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And that was always the sticking point. Perhaps nothing could have saved Andrew. Certainly, nothing post-2019 was ever going to save his public career. But make no mistake, the King’s statement today has exiled him forever.
“His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew,” the message, via Buckingham Palace, read.
“Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence. Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation. These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.
“Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”
There is no familial softness toward Andrew from his relatives. His royal protection, the fragile last pieces of it remaining after the changing of the guard from his late mother, the Queen, to his brother, has been stripped away.
At very, very, very best, Andrew has shown a disturbing lack of judgement and self-serving interest in his ongoing ties to a billionaire convicted sex offender.
At worst … well, that’s a matter that may or may not ever be fully explored.
But at the very least, Andrew could have shown remorse, or sympathy, or even an understanding of the devastating impact experienced by the victims of his former pal.
He’s had many years to do so. Certainly, during that trainwreck 2019 interview would have been a logical opportunity. Perhaps at some point in the empty-diaried five years of fall out he’s experienced since then. You’d think, potentially, it would be as public pressure reached its peak and as he crafted that statement, relinquishing his dukedom, a fortnight ago.
But no.
Perhaps nothing would have ever offered a path toward redemption for Andrew, offering some kind of peace he could have found, post-working-royal life.
However, after all these years, and apparently with not even a skerrick of remorse for even just his horrific choice in friendships, that ship has long ago departed the harbour.
The scandal surrounding Andrew is a disease on the monarchy that we’re now seeing surgically extracted with the most decisive of scalpels. And with no mea culpa, there’s not a chance anyone’s sorry to see him go.
