If Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor thought he was being ignored by the Royal Family, things might be about to get a lot worse. Since his chastening move to Sandringham from his sumptuous 30-room Royal Lodge home in Windsor, where he used to boast around 30 staff, Andrew has been persona non grata.
Even Sandringham staff, on the King’s own Norfolk estate, have tried to avoid him – not only due to lurid revelations from the Epstein Files but because for decades he’s had a bad reputation for treating his employees. But considering he is now living on the King’s estate, you would have thought Charles would have popped in to see his younger brother and check how he’s holding up.
Recently Prince Edward paid Andrew a visit, while Princess Anne also reached out following her sibling’s humiliating arrest in February.
Some wondered if the Royal Family were thawing towards him.
Andrew strenuously denies any wrongdoing and King Charles has issued public statements fully supporting the police investigation into Andrew’s behaviour when he was a UK trade envoy and his friendship with US financier Jeffrey Epstein.
His Majesty said: “What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation.
“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course. As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter. Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all.”
During this ongoing police probe, you can hardly expect the 77-year-old King to be popping into Andrew’s new Marsh Farm five-bedroom home for tea and scones.
But now it’s being claimed that regardless of the outcome of the criminal investigation, the King may never speak to his brother Andrew again.
A source close to the Royal Family dropped the bombshell: “The hard reality is that the King may never speak to Andrew again. It would take an enormous shift in the King’s thinking for them even to be in the same room.
“The fact that Edward has now visited Andrew and that Anne has spoken to him too might appear to suggest that Charles might be contemplating some kind of rapprochement – but that’s completely wrong.
“They were never close as brothers in the first place, with tensions between them which long predate the Epstein scandal.”
The source adds: “While in the context of the Epstein case the King feels that he was lied to and that’s not easy to forgive.
“And Charles is not just a brother in this situation but also the King – and in that capacity he has to protect the monarchy above all other considerations, even personal ones.”
And it will not only be the King but also Prince William and Princess Catherine who also will not be racing to join Andrew for a chinwag on the sofa.
Andrew is in a social no man’s land. No one wants to risk a hail of gunfire to rescue him.
