Black sheep Prince Andrew stuck out in cold
Now his brother is King, the contrasting fortunes of these two princes has never been sharper. What do the royals do with their biggest embarrassment?
Now Charles is king, what do the royals do with their biggest embarrassment?
The sight of Prince Andrew walking alongside his siblings in Edinburgh in a suit rather than a ceremonial uniform because he had been stripped of his military honours was a humiliating reminder of the shame he has wrought on his family.
The future of Andrew is hardly a priority amid this royal transfer of power but the new monarch will eventually have to decide how to handle his brother, who remains a royal outcast over his links with disgraced sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The death of the Queen has seen 62-year-old Andrew make a rare return to the spotlight during this mourning period. Days ago, he joined his siblings and their children outside Balmoral reading tributes to the Queen. Even then he courted controversy when a clumsy attempt to comfort daughter Eugenie saw him slide his hand down over her backside.
Andrew waved to the crowd and spoke with wellwishers in what was his first public act since his trainwreck 2019 Newsnight interview over his links with Epstein, an interview that saw him banished as a royal embarrassment.
Yet he is a part of the royal family and so he will attend the Queen’s funeral, but will not be given any significant formal role.
It’s far from certain King Charles would go out of his way to help rehabilitate his brother, given such a move could easily be seen as inappropriate for the new monarch given the explosive nature of the allegations against him. Charles was directly involved in discussions with the Queen in January that led her to strip the prince of all military titles and royal patronages and duties, including the use of the title HRH, His Royal Highness.
The family made it clear at the time that if Andrew had ongoing legal issues arising from the allegations, he would fight those as a private citizen.
In March, he paid a financial settlement to his accuser, Australian Virginia Giuffre, who claimed to have been abused by Epstein and his longtime confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell, beginning when she was 16.
She claimed in the civil suit that she had been pressured to have sex with Andrew three times when she was under 18.
He denied any recollection of having met Ms Giuffre, despite a photo of them together at the time. In his 2019 TV interview, he struggled to explain his links with Epstein, who was found hanged in a New York jail cell awaiting trial on charges of trafficking under-age girls for sex.
The precise terms of the settlement were not disclosed but it included a “substantial donation” from Andrew to a victims charity run by Ms Giuffre, and an acknowledgment she had “suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks”.
The problem for Andrew is that as part of the settlement, he cannot talk about the case and so has no avenue in the future to try to explain or rehabilitate himself even if he could.
The death of the Queen may actually make life more difficult for Andrew. Although his mother stripped him of his titles, she went out of her way not to humiliate him in public, with Andrew sometimes travelling with her in the car. The Queen also reportedly paid for the prince’s legal bills.
But the King would be taking a reputational risk early in his rule by going out of his way to favour Andrew, who remains a pariah in the eyes of the public.
So this change of monarch is unlikely to help dig Andrew out of the hole he has dug for himself.
It’s the steepest of falls for Andrew, who in the 1980s was one of the most popular royals with a popular wife in Sarah Ferguson.
Now his brother is King, the contrasting fortunes of these two princes has never been sharper.
