Prince William reportedly wanted then-Prince Andrew banished in 2019 as soon as he dished about his relationship with late Jeffrey Epstein in a now infamous interview with the BBC, according to a royals watcher.
No sooner had the segment aired on Nov 16, 2019, than William began pressuring his father, now King Charles III, and grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, to cut his creepy uncle loose, author Russell Myers told Us Weekly, the magazine reported Wednesday (Feb 25).
“William was absolutely adamant after seeing that BBC Newsnight interview with his uncle and the disastrous explanations that he gave for being friends with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,” said Myers, whose biography William And Catherine: The Monarchy’s New Era: The Inside Story, is due out March 10.
Myers cited Andrew’s lack of remorse for palling around with the disgraced financier and sexual predator, coupled with his apparent lack of empathy for Epstein’s victims, as major triggers for Prince William.
“Refusing to apologise for his relationship and refusing to acknowledge the actual trauma of Epstein victims was an absolute red line for William,” Myers told Us Weekly. “He actually said to the late queen and his father, ‘He has to be banished. Andrew has to be rid of both the public and the private royal family.’”
The scandalous sit-down with BBC News aired roughly three months after Epstein was found dead of apparent suicide in his cell at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was jailed while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The “no holds barred” interview was supposed to provide some exonerative insight into a relationship that Andrew claimed was long over. Instead it blew up into a major PR disaster as Andrew, Charles’ younger brother, denied having had sex with victim Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers.
Prince William, who will someday ascend the British throne, has made no secret of his plans to entirely excise Andrew from royal life once he’s the king. After Andrew stepped back from public royal duties following the interview, William was reportedly key in getting him booted from Buckingham Palace.
Andrew surrendered his royal titles last October, just days before Giuffre’s posthumously published memoir was released. King Charles then stripped him of all remaining titles, including that of prince, kicked him out of the Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle, and erased his profile on the royal family’s website.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he is now known, was arrested last Thursday (Feb 19), on his 66th birthday, amid an investigation into alleged misconduct involving business dealings with Epstein. British officials are also currently mulling whether to formally remove him from the line of succession to the throne, where he stands at number eight. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
