‘Revenge after plot to replace his brother’
PRINCE Andrew may be paying the price for a botched plot to depose his elder brother.
Andrew is this weekend coming to terms with his withdrawal from royal life after a tense showdown with the Queen and Prince Charles over his disastrous TV interview about his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Charles may not have been too sympathetic following the revelations made by royal biographer Tom Bower about Andrew’s bizarre plot to replace Charles as regent.
After Princess Diana’s devastating Panorama interview in 1995, says Bower, Charles believed Andrew had been “spreading poison” about Camilla and saw an opportunity to replace him. Bower wrote in his biography of Charles, Rebel Prince, that he “convinced himself that Diana and Sarah, Andrew’s estranged wife, were hatching plans to replace him as heir”.
He went on: “On the Queen’s death or abdication Andrew would be regent untilwilliam was 18, when he would take over.”
One ex-courtier said: “At the time, the Prince of Wales and Camilla were deeply unpopular with the public.” They added: “As it has turned out, it was a terrible miscalculation.this week’s events should be seen in relation to what happened.
“If so it is a fitting revenge.” In New Zealand – where Charles, 71, is touring with Camilla – he has refused to answer questions about his role in Andrew’s downfall.
The Duke of York, 59, faces the likely loss of his team of police personal protection officers and has lost £249,000-a-year from the Queen to run his royal office.