By Marisa Laudadio
3:32pm PST, Feb 24, 2026
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As King Charles III deals with fresh fallout from brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor‘s ties to convicted predator Jeffrey Epstein, a past betrayal by another royal relative is back in the news.
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King Charles III’s frustrations with brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have dominated headlines in recent weeks amid ongoing scrutiny of the former Duke of York’s relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. But nearly 25 years ago, another sibling — Prince Edward — sparked a controversy that deeply upset the future monarch.
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In 1993, Prince Edward founded Ardent Productions, which focused on making documentaries and dramas. In 2001, the production company was accused of breaching a privacy agreement involving Prince William. An Ardent camera crew was caught filming at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland just as the young royal began his first year at the school, where he met future wife Kate Middleton. Edward’s move “angered” William’s father, the future King Charles III, and grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, and led to a rift between the brothers, Britain’s Daily Express reported.
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The incident with the filming crew reportedly occurred on Prince William‘s second day at the university, where he was meant to study without media intrusion thanks to a privacy agreement struck between the royal family and the press. Ardent Productions initially denied any wrongdoing, claiming it was filming for a documentary called A-Z of Royalty.
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Prince Edward was allegedly unaware of the filming situation, but that didn’t stop the future King Charles III from rebuking him in an angry phone call, the celebrity.land reported at the time. “Edward is persona non grata. The queen [Elizabeth II] and especially Prince Charles are mortified at what he did,” a source close to Buckingham Palace told the Post in 2001. “To them, he’s the black sheep of the family. They may one day forgive him, but it will take a long time.”
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Following the backlash, Ardent Productions issued a statement insisting that the footage would not be used. “We can categorically confirm that the tapes do not contain any shots of Prince William… None of the footage contained in the tapes handed over to Buckingham Palace will be used in this or any future [program]…” the company said. Ardent folded in 2009.
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King Charles III’s frustration with his other brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, reached a tipping point in late 2025 amid renewed scrutiny of the former Duke of York’s ties to convicted predator Jeffrey Epstein. The monarch stripped his brother of his royal titles and evicted him from his Crown Estate home, Royal Lodge. Just a few weeks after the king provided his sibling with a new, smaller property on his private Sandringham estate in early 2026, the former Prince Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He’s now the subject of a U.K. police investigation after emails made public by the U.S. Justice Department appeared to show he sent confidential government information to disgraced financier Epstein while serving as Britain’s trade envoy.
