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