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A royal show of support for Prince Andrew over the weekend was intended to signal that King Charles wants to welcome his controversial brother back into the family, a source close to the monarch told The Daily Beast.
Prince Andrew was driven to church in Balmoral by Prince William Sunday—in clear view of the waiting photographers—after months of ostracization following allegations about his entanglements with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“Andrew won’t ever have the same ceremonial role within the family, he is no longer and never will be a working royal. That is clear,” a friend of the king told The Daily Beast. “But he is part of the family. He is the king’s brother. He has not been found guilty of any crime and I think it’s fair to say that the king is making it clear that he won’t turn his back on his brother.”
The very visual inclusion of Andrew in the bosom of the family Sunday represents a dramatic change of fortunes for the duke, who was kicked out of the ranks of working royals, losing his office, personal protection and annual stipend of around $300,000 in the final months of the late Queen Elizabeth’s reign.
He resigned his roles after he gave a disastrous interview to BBC Newsnight in which he denied recalling ever having met Virginia Giuffre, the Jeffrey Epstein trafficking victim who accused him of raping her, and subsequently brought legal action against Andrew. He implied that a photograph of him with his arm around the bare midriff of a teenage Giuffre was a fake. Andrew ultimately avoided what would have been a humiliating trial by paying Giuffre a reported multi-million dollar settlement, whilst maintaining his innocence.
Charles is understood to have spearheaded the expulsion of Andrew from the inner circle of the working family at the time, as well as effectively striping him of his HRH title, which makes Sunday’s appearance alongside senior royals all the more remarkable.
The historian and writer Andrew Lownie, who is currently working on what many expect will be the definitive biography of Andrew, told The Daily Beast that Sunday’s trip to church was particularly interesting because “the relationship between William and Andrew has never been good.” He said that suggested this was a carefully choreographed move.
“The family have been using the Prince and Princess of Wales to get them out of trouble a lot lately, and once again, they are doing the heavy lifting here, fixing problems not of their creation. This was clearly a very important event, and William’s had to put aside his objections… to agree to be in a car with him when they knew it was going to be filmed is an extraordinary development.”
Lownie said the royal family must have decided on an entirely new public relations plan to try and re-integrate Andrew.
“Until now, the family have been trying to distance themselves from Andrew, but Sunday’s ballet suggests that there’s been a change of strategy. The question is, why? Andrew is still very toxic. I mean, if I was advising them on PR, I would have him locked up in Balmoral and out of sight. So, why have they apparently decided they need to be showing some sort of support for him and that they’re all in this together?”
Lownie said this was the latest example of the fruits of Andrew’s tireless lobbying and self-promotion. Last week Britain’s former home secretary, Priti Patel issued a grovelling apology to the king after it emerged that she had written to the king’s private secretary, Clive Alderton—on Andrew’s behalf—suggesting that the decision to remove Andrew’s taxpayer-funded bodyguard should be reviewed.
“There’s a lot going on behind the scenes in terms of his lobbying. Sunday’s car ride shows that he has clearly been quite successful,” Lownie said.
While most of the headlines in British newspapers Monday focused on Andrew’s presence next to William, another figure was also being quietly rehabilitated in the great royal mime show; Lady Susan Hussey.
Hussey, who was a lady-in-waiting for the queen and is Prince William’s godmother, resigned after Black British charity director Ngozi Fulani said Hussey had repeatedly asked her, “Where are you from?” at a Buckingham Palace reception.
On Sunday, she was back at the heart of the family at the Balmoral service.
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace declined to comment on what conclusions might be drawn from yesterday’s appearance by Andrew at William’s side.
