Prince William seemingly had a hand in his disgraced uncle Prince Andrew’s fall from grace.
The Duke of York, 63, was stripped of his royal and military titles by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, after his friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein came to light.
His downfall was also due to victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre suing Andrew for alleged sexual assault in 2021.
According to Omid Scobie’s new book “Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival,” William, 41, “set the wheels in motion” to remove the titles.
The Duke of Cambridge was allegedly the one who pushed for his grandmother to take away Andrew’s “HRH” moniker in January 2022.
William developed a strategy to trash his uncle’s titles.
Andrew has denied Giuffre’s accusations and settled out of court with her last year.
Scobie wrote, “William was keenly aware that the horrific allegations, the fallout from the embarrassing interview, and now the prospect of an out-of-court settlement involving money from the family’s private wealth were all damaging the monarchy’s reputation.”
The Duke of York was stripped of his royal and military titles by his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in January 2022. Getty ImagesIn November 2018, Andrew sat down for a disastrous BBC “Newsnight” interview with journalist Emily Maitlis, in which he claimed he “couldn’t sweat” in an attempt to deny anything physical with Giuffre.
The royal expert added: “Even though several working members of the family wanted to see Andrew curtailed, neither Charles nor the Queen appeared ready to take him to task themselves.”
William’s strategy to take away his uncle’s titles was due to the worry that the latter would be “damaging the monarchy’s reputation.” Getty Images for Tusk“While [then-Prince] Charles openly detested Andrew’s indiscretions, he didn’t want to be the one to break his younger brother,” Scobie wrote.
While William knew that the Queen was the final authority on what to do about Andrew’s titles, she felt that it was his duty to encourage her.
“He felt she would remain ‘soft’ on his uncle if he didn’t forcefully express his concerns to his grandmother,” the book said.
Both King Charles and the late Queen were “soft” on Andrew. APElsewhere in the biography, Scobie wrote that William was “baffled by King Charles’ extreme concern” for his younger brother.
“While King Charles has, so far, shown no inclination of conclusively stopping his support for his wayward brother, Andrew would be foolish to think that William will unquestionably support his uncle in the same way,” the royal journalist wrote.
“It’s fair to say, the next King is the one in the family who inherited Prince Philip’s assertiveness when it comes to protecting the Crown,” he continued. “Until then, though, Andrew remains a wild card and one that can still inflict considerable damage to the monarchy.”
