November 1, 2025 • 8 mins
Royal insiders say it wasn’t just the King’s hand behind Andrew’s downfall — it was William’s. The Prince of Wales reportedly pushed his father to act, cutting through years of indecision and cleaning up what sources call “his father’s mess.” We explore claims that William is now “King in all but name,” the long-simmering family tension over Andrew’s presence at Sandringham, and whether this marks the real passing of royal power from father to son.
Hear our new show "Crown and Controversy: Prince Andrew" here.
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👑 The Palace Intrigue Social Hub is Live! Join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram or click the links to start your royal journey!
Hear our new show "Crown and Controversy: Prince Andrew" here.
Check out "Palace Intrigue Presents: King WIlliam" here.
👑 Follow our hit series Crown and Controversy! Season 1 is fully available now for everyone. Season 2 has new episodes every Sunday on the regular feed. GET THE FULL SEASON 2 BEFORE REGULAR LISTENERS as a subscriber! Hit that "UNINTERRUPTED LISTENING" Banner on the top of the Apple player. AND listen to Crown and Controversy "NORWAY'S ROYAL REBELS" here and get the full season as a premium subscriber now.
👑 The Palace Intrigue Social Hub is Live! Join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram or click the links to start your royal journey!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Calarogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to a special Saturday
bonus edition of Pallace Intrigue. I am your host, Mark Francis.
In The Royalist, Tom Sykes writes William is king in
all but name after masterminding Andrew's disgrace. Sykes quotes a
(00:25):
source saying Charles has been trying and failing to get
Andrew out of Royal Lodge for the past three years.
William did it in two weeks. William is king in
all but name now. According to Sikes, a friend of
the Prince of Wales said that William stepped in after
being left dismayed by the deal announced two weeks ago,
(00:45):
which saw Andrew lose the use of his Duke of
York title but crucially keep Royal Lodge and continuous prince.
A friend of Williams told The Royalist, this is Andrew,
so the solution was always going to be a payoff.
This is his far mess, and William wanted it cleaned
up on his father's watch. The notion that it is
his father's mess refers to deep unhappiness within William's circle
(01:10):
about the way Charles tried not only to rehabilitate Andrew,
but to co opt William and Kate into the effort
by forcing them to drive Andrew to church in bowmorl
in the summer of twenty twenty three, having invited Andrew
to join the family's Christmas Day photo call at Sandringham
in twenty twenty two. At Christmas of twenty three, both
Andrew and Sarah were in the festive photo call. William
(01:34):
furious boycotted Christmas lunch at Sandringham. In response, in The Guardian,
Robert Booth adds the Queen's longevity always meant that charles
reign would be relatively short, and therefore one of his
most important tasks would be to bequeath the institution to
Prince William in a reasonable repair. William is relatively popular
(01:54):
with the public, and for Charles to leave him with
a faster in crisis for the sake of the feelings
of his younger brother, recently caught lying about his continued
association with Epstein, made no sense. The Guardian reminds us
that it's easy to forget that before his fall from grace,
Andrew was once regarded as a national hero. As journalist
Stephen Bates recalled the Duke of York was celebrated for
(02:16):
his bravery as a Navy helicopter pilot during the Falklands
War in nineteen eighty two. After leaving the Navy in
two thousand and one, Andrew became Britain's Special Trade Envoy,
charged with boosting UK business abroad. But the glory of
his early years quickly faded. There was little evidence that
his trade missions led to any real deals, and he
(02:37):
became notorious instead for his extravagant travel by private jet
and his close ties to controversial businessmen and dictators. Bates
said he always had a reputation of being arrogant, self
entitled and extremely pompous. All this came to the fore
when a photograph was published of him chatting in New
York's Central Park to Jeoffrey Epstein, who had just been
(02:59):
released from a sentence for basically child abuse. Over the
succeeding fifteen years, more and more has come out, and
it's been like pulling the strand of wool on a jumper.
The more you pull, the more the whole thing unravels.
Charles has probably found his brother a bit of a millstone,
but he's squeamish about getting rid of people Bates ads. However,
for Charles and William, the most important thing is to
(03:21):
preserve the line of succession for the BBC Seawan Coughlin
wonders if even this is rock bottom for Andrew. Coughlin writes,
there are no modern precedents for such a colossal loss
of royal status. It's a ripping off the bandage moment
which the Palace will hope will finally draw a line
under the endless oil slick of bad news stories about Andrew.
(03:44):
But it's going to be much harder for the Palace
to settle an authentic feeling of public outrage. The sense
of unchecked privilege surrounding Andrew has genuinely irritated the public,
and it will take more than taking away his titles
to dispel the sense of ugly entitlement. Yugov, published on Thursday,
showed Andrew now has the worst ever popularity ratings for
(04:04):
a royal, with ninety one percent holding a negative view
of him, and the King heard that unhappiness firsthand from
Heckler in Litchfield this week, who shouted, how long have
you known about Andrew? And Epstein For the Palace, there
will be questions about why such long standing problems around
Andrew weren't dealt with before. Now, so much of this
(04:24):
has been known for so many years. The unsuitable business links,
the unexplained fundings, the connections with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,
the caste list changes, alleged Chinese spies or dictators, wealthy relatives,
but the story has remained the same. The unsavory link
with Epstein was being widely discussed fourteen years ago when
(04:45):
Andrew was stripped of his role as trade representative. Andrew
has been losing jobs but continuing to live in a
royal style for many years now, and its stretched public patience,
it felt arrogant and out of touch. A few clicks
on Google will find decades of stories raising doubts about
his suitability, often accompanied by pictures of Andrew and a
(05:06):
top hat like a renegade monopoly piece. What remains to
be seen now is whether a wider can of worms
has been opened. Who knew what and when at the
Palace about Andrew and Epstein? Do we need more transparency
around royal property and finance? How many houses do they
have up their sleeve in windsor and what fresh scandals
about Andrew could still emerge more Palace. In just a moment,
(05:34):
The Mirror reported Eugenie appears to be in Paris on
a girl's trip, with photographs showing the thirty five year
old posing with POWs on the River Sene, the Eiffel
Tower providing a glamorous backdrop. Beatrice is in Saudi Arabia
to attend the Future Investment Initiative event in the capital
of Riard. Author Phil Dampia suggests to Hello that Andrew
(05:56):
and Sarah's relationship is possibly not as strong as it
looks in public, saying, I think it just suited them
initially with the children. Then they just kind of got
stuck and have just been almost can't live with each other,
can't live without each other sort of thing, just bolted
together through their mutual sort of lifestyles. Fergie just quite
simply got a roof over her head all these years,
(06:17):
which she would have found difficult to have that lifestyle
because she's just incapable of keeping money. And Andrew has
had the stability for his daughters, for the mother being
around while he went off all around the world. Let's
be honest, enjoying himself. He stood by her, She stood
by him. Because they've both been as bad as one another.
To be honest about it, they've both been involved in scandal,
(06:37):
so it's kind of mutual survival. They've been welded together
by a sort of mutual self interest and possibly brought
out the worst in each other. If they hadn't been
under pressure to leave Royal Lodge, I think they would
have carried on as before. But if she does go
into a separate property, be it abroad or be it
in Australia with her sister or something, or if she
moves into Adelaide cottage, or if she moves into a
(06:59):
house in London or whatever happens, I think if they
do actually physically live apart, I think that could be
the beginning of the end of their relationship in the
sense that I don't think their relationship will be quite
the same, especially now that the kids are growing up.
This whole saga could have crept up in their relationship,
which behind closed doors, is probably not as close as
people think. Royal biographer and a past nat tells the
(07:23):
BBC maybe the Royal family don't want to be seen
to be hosting Andrew's ex wife, which I think it's
a bit sad because she has been looking after the
Queen's dogs very beautifully. When I went to the Royal Lodge,
there were some rather roly poly podgy dogs that came
rushing out and I was told they are regularly walked
around the grounds at Frogmore and they used to meet
the Queen's dogs and all walk together. So I do
(07:46):
think it's been very tough on Sarah, and my main
ocean of sympathy is actually for the daughters. And then
you have it back to email us. Our address is
the Palace Entry at gmail dot com. Please followus on Spotify, Apple,
or hit us up on Facebook and Instagram or all
the social hubs. By Mark rosis by thanks to John McDermott.
This is Palace Intrigue and good ernsh
Calarogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to a special Saturday
bonus edition of Pallace Intrigue. I am your host, Mark Francis.
In The Royalist, Tom Sykes writes William is king in
all but name after masterminding Andrew's disgrace. Sykes quotes a
(00:25):
source saying Charles has been trying and failing to get
Andrew out of Royal Lodge for the past three years.
William did it in two weeks. William is king in
all but name now. According to Sikes, a friend of
the Prince of Wales said that William stepped in after
being left dismayed by the deal announced two weeks ago,
(00:45):
which saw Andrew lose the use of his Duke of
York title but crucially keep Royal Lodge and continuous prince.
A friend of Williams told The Royalist, this is Andrew,
so the solution was always going to be a payoff.
This is his far mess, and William wanted it cleaned
up on his father's watch. The notion that it is
his father's mess refers to deep unhappiness within William's circle
(01:10):
about the way Charles tried not only to rehabilitate Andrew,
but to co opt William and Kate into the effort
by forcing them to drive Andrew to church in bowmorl
in the summer of twenty twenty three, having invited Andrew
to join the family's Christmas Day photo call at Sandringham
in twenty twenty two. At Christmas of twenty three, both
Andrew and Sarah were in the festive photo call. William
(01:34):
furious boycotted Christmas lunch at Sandringham. In response, in The Guardian,
Robert Booth adds the Queen's longevity always meant that charles
reign would be relatively short, and therefore one of his
most important tasks would be to bequeath the institution to
Prince William in a reasonable repair. William is relatively popular
(01:54):
with the public, and for Charles to leave him with
a faster in crisis for the sake of the feelings
of his younger brother, recently caught lying about his continued
association with Epstein, made no sense. The Guardian reminds us
that it's easy to forget that before his fall from grace,
Andrew was once regarded as a national hero. As journalist
Stephen Bates recalled the Duke of York was celebrated for
(02:16):
his bravery as a Navy helicopter pilot during the Falklands
War in nineteen eighty two. After leaving the Navy in
two thousand and one, Andrew became Britain's Special Trade Envoy,
charged with boosting UK business abroad. But the glory of
his early years quickly faded. There was little evidence that
his trade missions led to any real deals, and he
(02:37):
became notorious instead for his extravagant travel by private jet
and his close ties to controversial businessmen and dictators. Bates
said he always had a reputation of being arrogant, self
entitled and extremely pompous. All this came to the fore
when a photograph was published of him chatting in New
York's Central Park to Jeoffrey Epstein, who had just been
(02:59):
released from a sentence for basically child abuse. Over the
succeeding fifteen years, more and more has come out, and
it's been like pulling the strand of wool on a jumper.
The more you pull, the more the whole thing unravels.
Charles has probably found his brother a bit of a millstone,
but he's squeamish about getting rid of people Bates ads. However,
for Charles and William, the most important thing is to
(03:21):
preserve the line of succession for the BBC Seawan Coughlin
wonders if even this is rock bottom for Andrew. Coughlin writes,
there are no modern precedents for such a colossal loss
of royal status. It's a ripping off the bandage moment
which the Palace will hope will finally draw a line
under the endless oil slick of bad news stories about Andrew.
(03:44):
But it's going to be much harder for the Palace
to settle an authentic feeling of public outrage. The sense
of unchecked privilege surrounding Andrew has genuinely irritated the public,
and it will take more than taking away his titles
to dispel the sense of ugly entitlement. Yugov, published on Thursday,
showed Andrew now has the worst ever popularity ratings for
(04:04):
a royal, with ninety one percent holding a negative view
of him, and the King heard that unhappiness firsthand from
Heckler in Litchfield this week, who shouted, how long have
you known about Andrew? And Epstein For the Palace, there
will be questions about why such long standing problems around
Andrew weren't dealt with before. Now, so much of this
(04:24):
has been known for so many years. The unsuitable business links,
the unexplained fundings, the connections with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,
the caste list changes, alleged Chinese spies or dictators, wealthy relatives,
but the story has remained the same. The unsavory link
with Epstein was being widely discussed fourteen years ago when
(04:45):
Andrew was stripped of his role as trade representative. Andrew
has been losing jobs but continuing to live in a
royal style for many years now, and its stretched public patience,
it felt arrogant and out of touch. A few clicks
on Google will find decades of stories raising doubts about
his suitability, often accompanied by pictures of Andrew and a
(05:06):
top hat like a renegade monopoly piece. What remains to
be seen now is whether a wider can of worms
has been opened. Who knew what and when at the
Palace about Andrew and Epstein? Do we need more transparency
around royal property and finance? How many houses do they
have up their sleeve in windsor and what fresh scandals
about Andrew could still emerge more Palace. In just a moment,
(05:34):
The Mirror reported Eugenie appears to be in Paris on
a girl's trip, with photographs showing the thirty five year
old posing with POWs on the River Sene, the Eiffel
Tower providing a glamorous backdrop. Beatrice is in Saudi Arabia
to attend the Future Investment Initiative event in the capital
of Riard. Author Phil Dampia suggests to Hello that Andrew
(05:56):
and Sarah's relationship is possibly not as strong as it
looks in public, saying, I think it just suited them
initially with the children. Then they just kind of got
stuck and have just been almost can't live with each other,
can't live without each other sort of thing, just bolted
together through their mutual sort of lifestyles. Fergie just quite
simply got a roof over her head all these years,
(06:17):
which she would have found difficult to have that lifestyle
because she's just incapable of keeping money. And Andrew has
had the stability for his daughters, for the mother being
around while he went off all around the world. Let's
be honest, enjoying himself. He stood by her, She stood
by him. Because they've both been as bad as one another.
To be honest about it, they've both been involved in scandal,
(06:37):
so it's kind of mutual survival. They've been welded together
by a sort of mutual self interest and possibly brought
out the worst in each other. If they hadn't been
under pressure to leave Royal Lodge, I think they would
have carried on as before. But if she does go
into a separate property, be it abroad or be it
in Australia with her sister or something, or if she
moves into Adelaide cottage, or if she moves into a
(06:59):
house in London or whatever happens, I think if they
do actually physically live apart, I think that could be
the beginning of the end of their relationship in the
sense that I don't think their relationship will be quite
the same, especially now that the kids are growing up.
This whole saga could have crept up in their relationship,
which behind closed doors, is probably not as close as
people think. Royal biographer and a past nat tells the
(07:23):
BBC maybe the Royal family don't want to be seen
to be hosting Andrew's ex wife, which I think it's
a bit sad because she has been looking after the
Queen's dogs very beautifully. When I went to the Royal Lodge,
there were some rather roly poly podgy dogs that came
rushing out and I was told they are regularly walked
around the grounds at Frogmore and they used to meet
the Queen's dogs and all walk together. So I do
(07:46):
think it's been very tough on Sarah, and my main
ocean of sympathy is actually for the daughters. And then
you have it back to email us. Our address is
the Palace Entry at gmail dot com. Please followus on Spotify, Apple,
or hit us up on Facebook and Instagram or all
the social hubs. By Mark rosis by thanks to John McDermott.
This is Palace Intrigue and good ernsh
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