COURT CIRCULAR
BIG brother Brian will be hoping desperately that his latest attempt to cure the royal family’s biggest headache, Prince Andrew, is more successful than previous attempts.
At a Balmoral summit in September Brian and William agreed decisive action was needed over Andrew. It was a victory for the hardline heir over his more emollient father – but the final outcome was a decision to wait until after Giuffre’s memoir was published. Then the advisers panicked. On the Friday before publication the palace got hold of advance copies. The same day news came from Washington that more Epstein documents (some implicating Andrew) were being released to Congress. Meanwhile comment requests for stories being lined up by the weekend papers were coming in. So the palace feared the unknown. Explosive emails concerning Andrew and his ex-wife in the Mail on Sunday and the Sun in recent weeks have blindsided courtiers. What to do? The advisers urged Brian to seize the day and purge Andrew once and for all. But it took several hours and many rewrites before Brian finally agreed the statement to be issued in Andrew’s name in which he “relinquished” his titles while simultaneously retaining them. Despite the smoke and mirrors, Andrew remains a duke, earl, baron, Garter knight and a “most illustrious and most exalted” prince of the realm. The palace cover story, that it would be too difficult to actually remove them, was desperate nonsense. Most honours, including his princely status, can be whipped away simply on Brian’s say-so, while annulling the dukedom would require little parliamentary time. In 1936, legislation allowing the abdication of Edward VIII went through both houses in a few hours.