A royal author has claimed that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was finally removed from public life not as a direct result of his explosive interview with Emily Maitlis on the BBC, but rather after he became the subject of a question on ITV.
Following his BBC Newsnight interview in November 2019, in which Andrew addressed his interactions with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the Duke also featured as a question during a general election debate. The ITV general election debate in question was held between the then-Prime Minister and the then-leader of the opposition.
According to royal expert Robert Hardman in his book ‘Elizabeth II In Private. In Public The Inside Story’, it was only after Andrew became a debate question that the Queen “knew she had no option” but to withdraw her second-born child from public life.
This came after he had also “broken the cast-iron royal rule that the family should keep a low profile during general elections”.
Mr Hardman alleged: “When he even surfaced as a question in a televised debate featuring party leaders, the Queen knew that she had no option.
“In tandem with the Prince of Wales, she could see no alternative to Andrew’s removal from public life. After all, public duties only work when the public wants to see someone, as they manifestly did not in this case.”
This is not the sole example in which Mr Hardman’s book examines Andrew’s removal from a position, as he also evaluates the period spanning 2012 to 2016 and how the then-Prime Minister conveyed to the monarch that her eldest son needed to relinquish a role he occupied.
At that time, Andrew served as an ambassador for British trade, and now-Lord David Cameron revealed to Mr Hardman that he was required to tactfully inform the monarch that the former Duke of York must step aside amid allegations concerning his association with Epstein.
Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Lord Cameron said: “I think I was responsible for gently saying to Her Majesty that he had to stand down as a trade envoy. It was all pretty much fixed. But I was just to reference it for the official log. The Queen was worried about him but she could see the logic.”
He also indicated that additional factors had prompted his recommendation for Andrew to stand down, including remarks that he had been delivering.
Lord Cameron added: “It had been getting embarrassing. Andrew kept turning up to things and making terrible remarks. I’d seen it myself at Davos where he was going to his receptions and was just a bit crass. He had his way of doing things and it wasn’t what you wanted.
“He was very good with all the tyrants but he started being opinionated saying we were too squeamish about dealing with these people. His speeches would always just have three or four inappropriate things.”