I can't believe what King Charles has just done - but I'm certain he's saved the monarchy
Royal reporter Jasmine Carey says she watched in astonishment as Charles stripped Andrew of even being a prince.
I would be lying if I said Buckingham Palace’s statement on Thursday did not stop me in my tracks. Sitting at home on the sofa, I almost could not believe what I was reading. Of course, as a royal reporter covering Andrew’s latest scandals and predicaments, I knew a statement about an eviction from Royal Lodge in Windsor was likely. But a statement stripping him formally of every royal title, even that of ‘prince’, was something I just did not expect.
While I do not think this was a step too far, and in fact, in hindsight, it is really the only appropriate course of action King Charles could have taken, I was still very taken aback. This was mainly because I did not know that our 76-year-old monarch had it in him to reduce his brother from the title Prince Andrew to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor - a name that, apart from its royal connotations, does not make him seem too different from me or you.
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Although Andrew has denied all accusations against him, he continues to be entangled in scandals surrounding his previous association with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. So, the King’s actions came at just the right time.
With public calls to remove Andrew from royal life completely, the King’s punishment of his brother is set to have an impact on the monarchy - and a positive one too.
Andrew may have thrown the Royal Family into a crisis, but it was for sure King Charles who pulled the Firm out of it.
Through the statement on Thursday, and the actions that followed, the King has - I think and hope - saved the monarchy.
By treating his brother this way, Charles has shown that royal or not, those in the family will be held to account if and when necessary.
And how refreshing is that? To know that a royal is being treated exactly as the rest of us would be if we were to bring scandal upon scandal to our doorsteps.
While it may not have been an action the late Queen Elizabeth II would have taken, it is an action that our current monarch has carried out, and successfully too. If anything, it may have boosted the King’s reputation more than anything he has done before.
If the King were to have acted any later on the Andrew saga, I fear it could have been too late for the monarchy. Good timing, Your Majesty.
