Future king urged to cut off brother
WORLD
The Prince of Wales has been urged to consider downgrading the Duke of York’s role as a working royal when he becomes king, in the wake of his disastrous television appearance.
The prince is not believed to have been informed about his younger brother’s Newsnight interview until shortly before broadcast. The fallout is likely to overshadow the beginning of his week-long tour of New Zealand with the Duchess of Cornwall, that began in Auckland yesterday.
The prince is said to have regarded his brother’s decision to grant the interview with ‘‘incredulity and alarm’’ and had considered it ‘‘misguided’’.
A senior royal source, noting the public backlash, told The Daily Telegraph: ‘‘It’s possible the
Prince of Wales could decide to remove the Duke of York’s status as a working royal when he becomes king. It’s no secret that Charles wants to streamline the monarchy when he eventually succeeds the Queen, and they have had plenty of disagreements
Senior royal source in the past over Andrew’s role and that of his daughters.
‘‘The Newsnight interview won’t have done anything to help Andrew’s argument that he and his family should have a more high-profile role.’’ The duke’s decision to speak to the BBC was made in a bid to draw a line under claims that he slept with a 17-year-old girl, and questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, and to prevent the allegations from further distracting from his charity work.
However, the extraordinary 45-minute interview had the opposite effect, with palace insiders and royal observers alike branding it ‘‘a disastrous PR move’’.
The duke and his older brother were born 12 years apart and are thought to have a distant relationship.
Their relationship came under strain in 2012 when the prince made his future vision of a slimmed down monarchy clear by excluding wider family members from a Buckingham Palace balcony appearance during Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The Duke of York was said to be ‘‘furious’’ about being pushed to the margins of royal life.
At the time, he had only recently stepped down as Britain’s special international trade envoy amid questions about his business connections.
Similarly, the duke had always pushed princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, his daughters, to have key working roles and was notably fond of pointing out that they were the only two ‘‘blood princesses’’ of a generation.
But he was dismayed when they too were marginalised and stripped of their 24-hour royal protection in a row over the cost.
Peter Hunt, a respected former BBC royal correspondent, last night called upon the prince to tell his brother to quit.
‘‘Their mother won’t – Andrew is one of her blind spots,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s possible the Prince of Wales could decide to remove the Duke of York’s status as a working royal when he becomes king.’’