Prince Charles gears up for showdown with Prince Andrew
Prince Charles is reportedly furious with his brother Prince Andrew as the scandals surrounding the Duke of York continue to grow.
As the Prince of Wales is flying back to the United Kingdom after his tour of New Zealand and the Solomon Islands, he is reportedly furious about his brother’s disastrous BBC interview.
According to insiders, the Prince of Wales is furious that the BBC interview overshadowed his royal tour and is planning to speak to the Duke of York when he returns on Tuesday.
This comes after Buckingham Palace confirmed that Prince Andrew would be “standing back” from all his patronages as well as his royal duties.
“The Duke has over 230 patronages. He will be stepping back from public duty and temporarily standing back from all his patronages,” a spokeswoman told the PA news agency.
However, Prince Andrew will continue to work on his Pitch@Palace program, which is a program designed to help young entrepreneurs. The program was dropped by several Australian universities last week after the interview.
“(The Duke) will look at how he takes this forward outside of his public duties, and outside of Buckingham Palace. We recognise there will be a period of time while this transition takes place,” the spokeswoman said.
A royal insider told The Times that questioning whether or not Prince Andrew was “fit for purpose” on IITV was the final straw for Prince Charles.
The questions were posed to Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn during their first election debate.
“Prince Charles and his private secretary were determined that this should not be allowed to drag on and on. The question of the election was critical,” they said.
Former BBC correspondent Peter Hunt says that the Queen had no choice but to make her son step down after the scandal.
“After her error of judgment when she let Andrew do the interview, the palace are keen to show a decisive Queen,” former BBC correspondent Peter Hunt said on Twitter.
“But it’s Charles and his people who are increasingly pulling the strings.”