Even now, those around him are shaking their heads. “Right up to the end, he just didn’t understand,” one weary royal insider sighed. And if there were ever a textbook example of how not to handle a public scandal, the behaviour of Prince Andrew would be it.
From his stubborn refusal to lie low in the final weeks at Royal Lodge to his flat-out resistance to acknowledging the victims of his longtime associate Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew’s conduct has left even hardened courtiers aghast. While Buckingham Palace has stayed publicly silent – despite, I’m told, plenty it would love to say – there has been a palpable sense of relief behind closed doors that the former Duke of York has finally packed up and left the 31-room mansion that had come to symbolise his arrogance.
In recent days, as fresh revelations from the Epstein files poured out of the US, disbelief within royal circles only grew. Instead of retreating, Andrew stubbornly stuck to his routine, even after a brief ban from the royal stables. He continued his daily rides through Berkshire, clip-clopping past photographers as if nothing had happened. On one occasion, he was even seen grinning and waving from his car – a moment one insider described as making you want to “bang your head on the desk”. The verdict from another was brutal: “Appalling optics.”
Behind the scenes, however, the mood had shifted. There was no dramatic showdown or formal ultimatum. In truth, King Charles III has no legal power to evict his brother before the Royal Lodge lease expires later this year, although Andrew had already agreed to go by Easter. Still, the Palace has other ways of making its displeasure felt. Over the weekend, Andrew was left in no doubt that now was the moment to go quietly – decamping to Norfolk and beginning a new, far more modest chapter on the King’s Sandringham estate.
Crucially, newly surfaced emails have fatally undermined Andrew’s long-held claim that he cut all ties with Epstein in 2010. Faced with mounting evidence that this simply wasn’t true, even he seemed to grasp that the game was up. Rather than risk the humiliation of being effectively escorted out under the glare of the world’s media, he slipped away under cover of darkness.
For now, Andrew is temporarily staying at Wood Farm, once the home of Prince Philip, while preparations continue on his new residence, Marsh Farm. Yet insiders caution that this may not be the last sighting. His move is not entirely complete, and he may yet return briefly to Royal Lodge to tie up loose ends.
Despite being stripped of his official roles, Andrew remains part of the Royal Family – and pressure is only growing for him to fully account for his actions and his friendship with Epstein. Requests for comment via his private office continue to be met with silence, a stance many believe is no longer tenable.
The King, meanwhile, has walked a lonely line. While convinced his brother deserves censure for a lifetime of disastrous judgement, Charles has also shown a sense of duty. He is said to be privately funding Andrew’s living and security arrangements, believing it wiser to keep him within the fold than financially dependent on questionable friends.
As for Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, the fallout has been devastating in its own way. Though not accused of criminality, her reputation has been badly damaged by the email revelations. Friends say she is considering a temporary move abroad to reassess her life, possibly to Australia to visit her sister, before returning to the UK and the Windsor area.
Notably, those close to Ferguson are now keen to stress a distinction between the allegations facing her and those directed at Andrew – arguing that while his involve claims of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre, hers amount to what one friend called “staggering stupidity and greed”. Even so, the once famously close bond between the ex-couple appears to be loosening, leaving open the question of whether they will ever again present a united front.
For the rest of the Royal Family, it is a case of grimly carrying on. Major public engagements loom, and insiders admit it has been painful to see years of charitable work overshadowed by scandal. Yet, as one source put it pointedly, “providing testimony is now a matter for Andrew and his conscience”.
Wherever he ends up living, it seems clear that the uncomfortable reckoning surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is far from over.
