Andrew Mountbatten Windsor hasn’t reached rock bottom yet

After the King’s historic decision to evict his brother and strip his official titles, the former prince must contend not only with his straitened circumstances and the public shaming, but also with the fact that he has long deluded himself about always putting ‘duty first’, says Sean O’Grady

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, as we must now learn to call him, has been sent into the nearest thing a free society can organise that equates to what they do in Russia: a state of “internal exile”. What took them so long, you might well ask.

Nor is he being dispatched to a gulag, as many might wish. It’s not yet clear where on the King’s private Sandringham estate Andrew will be billeted, but the house will no doubt be comfortable enough. His brother will support him financially, although surely not lavishly – presumably just enough to prevent him from going cap in hand to those foreign investors who have loaned him cash in the past. His ex-wife, Ms Sarah Ferguson, will now make her own living arrangements.

Whatever Mountbatten Windsor’s settlement looks like, taking in security, staff, living costs and the rest, it will also have to satisfy public opinion. There should be no indulgence.

In any case, it was the right decision by King Charles, and made for the right reasons – albeit long overdue. There is some small irony in that the experts say that it is much more difficult to be “private” around Sandringham than on the Windsor estate. But there was no way that Mountbatten Windsor was going to be allowed to stay on crown estate land, with its ultimate links to the state, rather than the King’s own property portfolio.

“Never complain, never explain” was the old motto the royals tried to abide by. Not in this case. Unusually for a press release from Buckingham Palace, usually so clipped, there was a justification for this extraordinary decision to strip the former prince of his titles: “These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him. Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”

While ritualistically noting that Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is still denying everything, the King and Queen have effectively sided with the “victims and survivors”, and that would include Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

That loss of confidence from his own family, having long since forfeited the affection of the public that the once dashingly handsome Prince Andrew used to enjoy, is the most grievous of all for him. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has become a stranger to HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, the garlanded war hero.

There’s a sense that it’s the most royalist of people who now despise Andrew the most, for how he betrayed the institution they cherish (AFP/Getty)

There has been a lot of talk about what Gen Z thinks of the monarchy and how much damage the specific nature of the allegations against Andrew has wreaked among this demographic. I don’t doubt it is a lot, but he has also alienated the entire country. Indeed, the sense I get is that it’s the most royalist of people who despise him the most, precisely because of the way he has betrayed the very institution they cherish, whereas the younger generations tend to be more indifferent to it.

Andrew, among many other burdens, will have to live with that realisation for the rest of his life. He claims to have always put duty first, but has yet to realise he has been deluding himself. His grim final missive to Jeffrey Epstein (“Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!”) was signed off in characteristically entitled form: “A, HRH The Duke of York, KG.” The knight of the garter there, supposedly the pinnacle of chivalry, looking forward to “playing” some more – and not chess, one suspects.

Stripping Andrew of his now tawdry grandeur was his brother’s decision, because it had to be – but it was also one guided by obvious public discontent. There can be no monarchy without public support, which is something Elizabeth II understood and acted upon when she agreed that her scandal-struck son should “step back” from royal duties in 2020. The King is now completing the process of defenestration and banishment.

The key to the durability of British royalty is its ability and willingness to adapt to what the public demands, to abandon protocol as needs be, and be ruthless with it. They must all wish that this really is the end of the matter.

And yet the Epstein files have not yet been fully mined, and the possibility of prosecution, or even an extradition request from the FBI, cannot be ruled out. The Metropolitan Police is “actively looking” into claims that he tried to use his bodyguard to smear his accuser. There also remain some awkward questions about Andrew’s connections to Chinese “business contacts” linked to that country’s leadership.

No matter how far Mountbatten Windsor has fallen, it feels as if there are new lows yet to come.