The former Prince Andrew has been in the middle of numerous scandals in his life, a lot of them related to his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But Andrew has faced very little in the way of consequences for all he’s done. And even now, as he’s been stripped of his title and banished to Sandringham, his expenses will continue to be covered by his brother, the king, and he will continue not to be required to give any explanations.
Not just that, there are reportedly no plans to pass a law to formally remove Andrew Mountbatten Windsor from the line of succession, according to the BBC. That means that he remains eighth in line to the throne, as it would take an act of Parliament to remove him.
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Buckingham Palace announced on October 30th that the former prince would now be called Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. This is all part of the fallout from his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which was brought back into the conversation by a new biography about Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, as well as a book by Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre titled Nobody’s Girl, who claimed she was trafficked to have sex with Andrew on three separate occasions.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal conspiracy and sex trafficking charges. In an infamous 2019 interview that cost Andrew his status as working royal, he claimed he’d never met Giuffre, just before pictures of the two together were released by the media. Just recently, leaked emails showed that his ex-wife, Fergie, apologized to Epstein mere weeks after publicly disowning him, back in 2011.
All of this came after both Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew were photographed with other members of the royal family at the funeral of the Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral, which seemed to grant legitimacy to the former couple and raised eyebrows considering Andrew’s numerous scandals.
That, in particular, seemed to have upset William, who The Mirror reported was determined “not be photographed” with his uncle, and has done his best to avoid him in public in recent years. According to royal author Andrew Lownie: “William, meanwhile, was ‘furious’ at being ambushed in this way, according to friends.”
“He has been at pains to distance himself from his uncle and not be photographed with him. He believes his father has not dealt with him with sufficient firmness and that Andrew – and Sarah Ferguson – have done much to undermine the good work of other members of the Royal Family.”
Despite that, Andrew remains very much part of the family, even if he’s been sort of exiled. Losing titles and having to move from a mansion to another smaller house where everything is paid for you isn’t that big of a punishment. All of this, in many ways, feels like the royals trying to do the quick damage control they always refused to do. Whether it works to sway public perception that they’ve been protecting Andrew all this time, however, remains to be seen.
Lizzie Lanuza
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