Frozen-out Andrew gets an equally chilly reception from crowd
As the King travelled to Westminster Abbey in a golden carriage, to huge cheers and the drumbeat of a military procession, his brother was driven in a car alone – and booed.
As the King travelled to Westminster Abbey in a golden carriage, to huge cheers and the drumbeat of a military procession, his brother, Prince Andrew, was driven down the Mall in a car alone – and booed by crowds.
Andrew was reportedly “left in the dark” until the last moment about whether he would be allowed to wear his ceremonial Knight of the Garter robes - and was “furious”. In the end, the late Queen’s second son got his way, walking into the abbey in a floor-length velvet robe, red sash and gold tassels.
But his position during the service left a little to be desired, three rows back and jammed against a pillar, in the armpit of the abbey. He was notably absent from the remainder of the day.
Andrew, the eighth in line to the throne but no longer a working royal, is everything the “modernising” Charles and millennial William do not want for the royal family. Known for his pomposity and big spending, the prince went from “Randy Andy” to being associated with a convicted paedophile and facing allegations of sexual assault.
As a result, the royals seem to be involved in a silent, smiling street tussle: the Firm desperately but cordially trying to shunt him to the back of the pack, without being so obvious as to suggest he might be guilty, while he keeps pushing his way forward, seemingly oblivious to the reality of his reputation. So what do you do with a problem like Prince Andrew?
As the Duke of York walked into Westminster Abbey on Saturday, he took the lead down the aisle, ahead of his daughters, nodding and smiling to the guests. Prince Harry, who walked in with the same group, managed to put some distance between himself and Andrew, hanging back to walk alone.
The ceremony was discretly tweaked so Andrew did not play a role. The Homage of Royal Blood would have seen the dukes kneeling before the King and vowing to be his “liege man”. It was streamlined, however, to just Prince William.
Andrew was not included in the procession behind the King and Queen’s Gold State Coach to Buckingham Palace and did not go onto the balcony for the fly-past.
The duke stepped back from royal duties in 2019 after a disastrous BBC Newsnight interview and his brother and nephew are said to oppose any public-facing role.
In 2015, Virginia Giuffre claimed she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 and he was a guest of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Andrew has always denied the allegations. An out-of-court settlement was reached with Giuffre in March last year - a reported pounds 3 million - in which he accepted no blame.
Andrew was stripped of his military affiliations and royal patronages, a decision that left him “utterly bereft”. Behind the scenes, he is also being frozen out of the Firm. It is believed his pounds 249,000 annual allowance from the Duchy of Lancaster was cut last month, although he was left a substantial inheritance by his mother, as well as cash from selling his £19 million chalet in Verbier. Now he is unemployed, said biographer Nigel Cawthorne, Andrew is “Lord High Dogwalker, keeper of the royal corgis” – he and his ex-wife inherited Queen Elizabeth’s dogs Muick and Sandy, who were seen enjoying afternoon tea on Friday with Sarah Ferguson.
But Andrew is said to be recruiting a new communications team and has contacted lawyers with information that “will change people’s perceptions of him”. He has been accused of trying to “worm his way back into public life”, attending the Royal Victorian Order party in March, where he wore his Knight of the Garter robes, and the Easter church service, where he manoeuvred himself immediately behind the King.
The Sunday Times
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