With one subtle sentence, Prince William and Catherine are now in charge
The apprentice rulers have grown increasingly impatient about the self-inflicted damage done to the House of Windsor.
The heir to the throne made a legitimate power move and did what none of his relatives has ever achieved – modernised – but, most importantly, humanised the British monarchy.
King Charles may have executed the first royal censure in living memory, but this was all William and Catherine.
The tell? Those final blistering paragraphs of the extraordinary statement released by Buckingham Palace on Friday.
“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,” the memo read on “behalf of King Charles”.
Andrew is now officially cancelled.
He’s (finally) been cut off from the taxpayer, denied his birthrights and evicted from his royal estate.
He must be sweating now. And thankful the Tower of London is no longer in operation.
For all of her brilliant work, Queen Elizabeth II reportedly had to be dragged and coaxed by those around her to break from protocol when it came to dealing with her family’s mistakes and missteps. Charles, often the source of such issues, did too. Especially when public sentiment was so strong around issues impacting not just the royal family, but the House of Windsor Pty Ltd, such as the divorce fallout, death and commemoration of Princess Diana.
William was cruelly caught in those public-versus-private crosshairs as a mere teenager.
With this precise and brutal action, he is containing this scandal and throwing forward to the next generation of leaders within The Firm.
This action is an attempt to show the royals are just like us.
Who hasn’t got that one uncle who is the source of familiar embarrassment or shame?
The difference is, Andrew is not your run-of-the-mill relative who gets a bit loose at Christmas and on Facebook. He leveraged his privilege in revolting ways, including using his taxpayer-funded police detail to discredit and gaslight his accuser Virginia Giuffre.
His continual lies, most of which he made publicly and voluntarily during that train wreck of a BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, and refusal to accept responsibility for seemingly being besties with convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, were not comical, they were terminal for the royal family. William saw that.
How could he, Catherine and his cousins continue to pledge support for charitable causes for the less fortunate when they had an Andrew-sized cancer living, rent-free, among them?
He’s sick of the family business he’ll one day inherit being in crisis.
Instead, the new Prince of Wales is proving he’s already a leader who knows how to effectively utilise crisis communications.
He and his wife have been the senior royals who have consistently recognised the importance of their roles and duty.
William and Catherine have consistently kept calm and carried on.
They’ve held firm with his brother’s Californian carry-on, his sister-in-law’s complaining and now, with this swift kick, he’s helped kick his uncle to the kerb once and for all.
“For it to have taken so long, in the face of so many patterns of behaviour, red flags and smoke, have made it more damaging than it should have been,” crisis and reputation expert Sally Branson told The Australian.
“The end of that statement is the most powerful. It shows looking forward, who comes next and contains this scandal to this generation.”
The timing of Andrew’s demotion after it was reported William stepped in and read the riot act to Andrew’s daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, also speaks volumes about how fed up the apprentices have been with the old guard for years.
William, according to the BBC, “demanded” they encourage their old man to read the room, and perhaps a few real estate ads, else they be stripped of their royal titles.
For the royal family to continue in a climate where accountability, transparency and just plain decency are paramount to corporations and society at large, the artist formerly known as Prince Andrew, and to an extent that of Charles, Prince of Wales, must be relegated to the history books.
William and Kate’s chapter starts now.
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The Prince Andrew situation has been untenable for years, yet within a week, the real king – Prince William – sorted it out.