Pick your metaphor for the King’s action in stripping his younger brother of all the royal perks and privileges that he adored. “I’ve had enough” is the tone of the monarch’s actions. The former His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York could have controlled his own exit from royal life and carved out a semi-respectable life in retirement, but the arrogant man stubbornly refused to concede to reality. Now, he’s lost all the royal trappings that he loved.
Previous pieces using those metaphors:
SUBSTACK: “The King goes scorched earth on his brother” from October 30
An account of what was contained in that royal statement and what it meant for Andrew and his family.
TORONTO STAR: “Andrew’s shocking fall from royal grace is unprecedented. Why King Charles went scorched earth on his brother.” from October 31
Analyzing the implications of what King Charles did:
Such decisive actions may have started with Andrew, but the fallout could spread well beyond that 65-year-old to other high profile members of the Windsor clan, such as a certain couple living in Montecito, who have spent the past five years generating negative headlines for the royal family.
The announcement from Buckingham Palace came at 7 p.m. on October 30, 10 days after Andrew sought to staunch the tide of bad press by announcing he would no longer use his Duke of York title and other honours. While that one was titled “A statement by Prince Andrew,” this one was more stark: “A statement from Buckingham Palace.”
This time, it was the King who was in control, as can seen from the first sentence: “His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew.”
Born HRH Prince Andrew, he became Duke of York on his marriage in 1986. Now he’s Mr. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
Andrew will move to a home on the private royal estate of Sandringham in Norfolk, located a two-hour drive from grand royal events he liked attending, usually snagging a prime location in front of the cameras.
The King will finance his brother’s retirement, which not only means that Andrew will be dependent on his brother but that this arrangement will continue when William becomes king.
Sarah Ferguson is responsible for finding her own accommodation. After living with Andrew for nearly 20 years, they are going their separate ways now that there are no grand royal salons to entertain those able to help them finance their lifestyle.
We have some answers from the palace but surprised crown and constitutional experts need more information to explain the precise steps involved.
We assume the Letters Patent of 1917, which gave Andrew his HRH Prince style and title, will be amended to remove them.
Andrew, who had a famously cast-iron 75-year lease with the Crown Estate for Royal Lodge, had to be persuaded to surrender it. Any funds he gets back from ending it prematurely are likely to be absorbed in required repairs of the historic building and estate.
We don’t know which house Andrew will occupy at Sandringham. There are some options, including houses that are now vacation rentals.
The Royal Collection will retrieve any paintings, furniture, etc. that he’d borrowed to use at Royal Lodge.
His biography has vanished from the royal website.
While technically removing the Duke of York title requires an act of Parliament, the King went to the limit of his Royal Prerogative (those powers inherent to the monarch) and is sending Royal Warrants to the Lord Chancellor to remove the title from the Roll of the Peerage. It had been scrubbed from the electronic version within hours of that announcement.
The King and advisors had to get legal and constitutional advice, talk to Andrew, talk to other family members, especially William, and most importantly, get the approval of the government for those actions. By all accounts, no government leader wants this scandal anywhere near Parliament and its benches filled with ambitious politicians willing to do anything to get into the public eye.
On Thursday, Andrew surrendered the lease to Royal Lodge. The announcement was made at 7 p.m. that evening.
The drip-drip of bad stories continues, with more revelations of Andrew and Sarah using Buckingham Palace for financial gain, including a private 2019 tour of the royal residence for crypto businessmen who paid Fergie around $3 million as a “brand ambassador,” according to a BBC report.
Other previously known tales of questionable actions for possible financial gain are being resurrected.
NOTABLE PART OF THE STATEMENT
The last sentence was from both King Charles and Queen Camilla, who has been a proponent of charities and organizations working for abused women and victims of domestic violence: “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.”
That is seen an extraordinary rebuke of Andrew by his brother and sister-in-law.
Reportedly, Andrew removed such tributes to Epstein’s victims from previous statements taking away his royal roles.
Virginia Giuffre’s family noted that she’d “brought down a prince” while asking again for more accountability (Given that police have previously declined to prosecute, and Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year, it’s hard to see how any criminal action could proceed. But then again, we never thought Andrew would lose everything.)
FALLOUT
The last time a King stripped his brother of titles was 1399 when new monarch Henry IV who stripped titles of his half-brother, John, of the title of Duke of Exeter, who was later executed in January 1400 after a failed assassination conspiracy. (This is from Talking Royals, the ITV podcast.)
The royal couple in Montecito have always clung to their royal titles. This spring, after Meghan was caught using her HRH style in “private,” their favoured publication, People quickly did a story titled, “No, the British Monarch Can’t Take Away Prince Harry and Meghan’s Royal Titles.”
Uh oh.
(For more, see my Toronto Star piece, in which I argue that such a move may come as be part of a larger, long overdue shakeup within the House of Windsor. King Charles has slimmed the number of working royals. Now, there are too many private members of the family holding royal titles and styles, which can be exploited for financial gain, including the duke and duchess in Montecito.)
MOVING HOUSE
During the school half-term break, the Wales family moved into their new home, Forest Lodge, which is close to Andrew’s residence. The renovations were done earlier than expected on the 8-bedroom home.
On Monday, Prince William arrived in Rio for the fifth annual Earthshot Prize events, which culminates in a big award ceremony on Wednesday, starring the likes of Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes.
Then, he represents his father at COP30 on Thursday, November 6 before jetting back to Britain for Remembrance commemorations on the weekend.
Last Thursday, William and Kate won a legal case against Paris Match, a big French magazine, which published “intrusive” photos of the family on holiday in the French Alps in the spring, including them eating and sitting out on the balcony of their rental home. The court determined that the long-lens paparazzi images violated their privacy.
Instead of a monetary award, William and Kate will get a “judicial notice” published in Paris Match as well as their legal costs paid by the publication.
Though Meghan launched some holiday products for As Ever, including a US$64 candle and US$32 honey, that news received very little fanfare or publicity compared to their choice of baseball hats.
Though Meghan wore multiple versions of the Blue Jays cap during her decade-long stay in Toronto when she was filming Suits, that affiliation seems to have died when she returned to California in 2020.
She and Prince Harry wore Los Angeles Dodgers gear as they sat in prominent seats for Game 4 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays (the Dodgers lost that game).
Canadians were not kind to the couple. In an email, one person called Meghan a “fair weather friend,” which reminds me of Elizabeth II’s famous quote about not being such a person. Another fiercely loyal Blue Jays fan was far harsher, texting, “Traitor.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source writeroyalty.substack.com ’
