Charles is royally rattled as scandal engulfs his brother

So it was last Monday when the king met those affected by the synagogue attack in Manchester. His spokesperson felt the need to tell reporters that the head of state wanted to focus on “duty and service” and hoped people wouldn’t be distracted by “other matters”.

The distraction was created by the perception that the latest palace response to Prince Andrew’s friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein didn’t go far enough. The last time they were so out of step with public opinion was back in 1997 when, in the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, tabloid headlines declaring “Show us you care” and “Where is our Queen?” resulted in a flag being hoisted above the palace and the monarch returning to London.

Convention, protocol and the Windsor’s old-fashioned stiff upper lip (now abandoned by Prince William) were jettisoned to ensure collective grief in the capital didn’t mutate into republican anger.

Three decades on, the nonsense convention that the palace doesn’t represent Andrew because he’s a “non-working” royal meant he released his own statement – one that has gone down as well as his 2019 Newsnight performance.

It doesn’t seem to have dawned on royal officials that Andrew unfiltered is not a pretty sight to most members of the public. Those same officials will have hoped that forcing a senior royal with an array of titles to just be a prince in public would draw a line under his toxic relationship with Epstein.

It hasn’t. The palace’s priority now is to prise the keys to Royal Lodge out of Andrew’s hands. Talks to achieve this are apparently at an advanced stage. It’s a once impossible task (he has a pretty watertight lease) that now seems more achievable thanks to the government being on side.

The acceptance by senior politicians that there should be proper scrutiny of the circumstances that led to Andrew living rent-free has opened up the possibility of unwelcome scrutiny by a parliamentary committee. The fear of being quizzed by MPs, with the attendant risk of questions about sweating, may well force Andrew to downsize voluntarily.

Andrew’s episodic defenestration by his own family is a reminder that, for the British monarchy, survival is thicker than blood. They didn’t endure down the centuries, while relatives elsewhere were toppled, by just smiling and waving.

After his disastrous Newsnight interview, Andrew stepped back from public duties and away from ever again appearing on the palace balcony; three years later, his mother stripped him of his honorary military titles and stopped him being referred to as His Royal Highness; and, from this month, the former Duke of York is now plain Prince Andrew.

The royals will be desperate to resolve the Andrew question. From their perspective, the ideal outcome of this, their fourth attempt in six years, would be for Andrew and Sarah Ferguson (his ex-wife and ex-duchess, who still lives with him) to move to private accommodation involving no taxpayer money and for the vacated lodge to be rented by a non-royal.

The older brother will probably have to dig into his private income to facilitate the younger’s move. Unless such benevolence is sustained, Andrew’s reliance on rich friends to fund his lifestyle will remain a headache for the king. Charles and William are fond of Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, and they won’t want to change their respective palace living arrangements.

The overarching goal will be to smother any broader national discussion of the family. They will want to avoid not only legislation to remove Andrew’s dukedom (No 10 is supportive) but also greater scrutiny of their finances.

We don’t know what rent William pays in Windsor or the source of the money Andrew used to settle his civil case with Virginia Giuffre. The prince has repeatedly and strenuously denied her claims that she was forced to have sex with him on three occasions, including when she was 17.

Those around Charles and William will hope the prospect of the eighth in line to the throne using a removal van will satisfy the public. They want the focus to be on Andrew and Andrew alone. The risk is that the toxicity of his Epstein friendship begins to infect them. No wonder they’re rattled.

The author is a former BBC royal correspondent

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