Andrew with the late Queen Elizabeth (Image: Getty Images)
The unexpected arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor on his 66th birthday this week has been followed by another setback. According to Whitehall sources, once any police inquiry into the King’s brother concludes, discussions will commence on stripping him of his place in the line of succession.
For months, Andrew’s connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have faced intense examination, and the recent publication of three million documents by the US Department of Justice appeared to cast fresh light on their relationship. Several emails exchanged from an account seemingly belonging to Andrew with the disgraced financier suggested he may have disclosed confidential information from his tenure as UK Trade Envoy to Epstein.
Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged by the police.
One such email was dispatched on Christmas Eve 2010, with the account forwarding Epstein material concerning confidential investment prospects related to the reconstruction of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Andrew was detained on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, and searches have been conducted at a property in Norfolk, and his previous residence in Berkshire, Royal Lodge.
He has been released pending further investigation, and once this concludes, the Government will commence proceedings to formally remove him from the line of succession. This will necessitate an act of Parliament, and requires unanimous agreement from all 14 realms where King Charles serves as head of state, reports The Mirror.
The royal commentator said the late Queen did not know the “half of” Andrew’s connection to Epstein when she was aliveQueen Elizabeth II and Andrew (Image: GettyImages)
The Times has published a fresh report examining Andrew’s “very long fall from grace” that the public has witnessed reach its climax in recent months when the monarch unceremoniously stripped his younger brother of his royal titles and styles. The piece offers fresh insight into the King’s brother during his younger years, and his relationship with the late Queen.
Frequently described as the late Queen’s “favourite son”, one claim in the report includes a startling reaction from the former monarch. The publication alleges that “as a young man his behaviour was so atrocious that a footman punched him in the face.”
Despite her widely documented closeness with Andrew, “Queen Elizabeth refused his subsequent offer to resign on the grounds that her son had obviously deserved it.”
The report additionally suggests that Andrew managed to irritate his mother, despite her tendency to “indulged” him. “He spent his childhood annoying almost everyone. Even she was irritated by his habit of climbing onto the roof of Buckingham Palace to tinker with the TV aerial so she couldn’t watch the racing,” the publication alleges.
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The allegation that a footman once struck Andrew, leaving him with a black eye, was initially revealed by royal expert Ingrid Seward in her book ‘My Husband and I’. The expert documented that on one “occasion when [Andrew’s] taunting so annoyed a young footman that he took a swipe at Andrew that deposited him on the floor and left him with a black eye,” the royal staff member was left “fearing for his job.”
The footman approached the Queen directly, Seward has claimed, and offered his resignation, but she said “her son had obviously deserved it and the footman was on no account to be punished for Andrew’s bad behaviour”.
Nevertheless, one insider questions whether Andrew truly was the late Queen’s “favourite”. Ailsa Anderson, who served as the late Queen’s Press Secretary from 2001 to 2013, told the BBC, “The media do say that he was the favourite son, but in my 12 years working for the late Queen I never saw her display any favouritism amongst any of her children, so I can’t really say that’s true.”
Following Andrew’s arrest early on Thursday from his temporary residence at Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate, he was transported to Aylsham police station – but the majority of staff at Aylsham Police Investigation were instructed not to attend that morning, a new report has disclosed, whilst officers exclusively dealt with the former duke. “Days before” his arrest, staff were reportedly informed that a “notable person” would be arriving.
It’s even been suggested that an IT shutdown was part of the police operation to ensure the news did not leak out in advance.