Royal Editor Serves Up Queen Elizabeth As A Potential Scapegoat For Charles' Headache With Andrew

With a reign lasting 70 years, Queen Elizabeth had an incredible opportunity to define royal policy between 1952 and 2022. Unfortunately, one unresolved issue from her reign involved her third child, Prince Andrew. Ever since 2011, Andrew's connection to Jeffrey Epstein has repeatedly caused difficulties for the royal family. Even so, it took until 2019 for Andrew to step down as a working royal. 

A few months into his reign, King Charles began his efforts to persuade Andrew to move out of his longtime residence at the Royal Lodge. While he hasn't moved yet, Andrew's family relationships reached a new low on October 17, 2025, when he relinquished his "Duke of York" title. Andrew previously lost accolades in January 2022, when Elizabeth took away his military honors and ability to use "His Royal Highness." Now, however, some are faulting Elizabeth for not going far enough. "It's as if she left an unexploded bomb for Charles," one insider told The Times. "This was a terrible dereliction of duty. She indulged Andrew all the time and always avoided confrontation." 

Elizabeth and Andrew had a tight relationship, and although his actions likely created a lot of stress for the queen, it didn't seem to dent their bond. In addition, the persistent rumor that Andrew was her favorite further supports The Times' theory about Elizabeth being too soft with Andrew. "If a story lasts more than nine days, you're toast. It's been 15 years now," one former courtier remarked to the paper.

Not everyone thinks it's fair to just throw Queen Elizabeth under the bus for her handling of Prince Andrew, with King Charles getting his fair share of shade, too. Some have asserted that the king was too lenient for allowing Andrew to appear publicly with the rest of the royals at holidays. Based on Charles' past behavior, there were even rumors in 2023 that Andrew might get his lost titles back. However, that didn't come to pass, and considering Charles' current stance, it looks unlikely.

Scapegoats aside, Charles might need a win in the battle to get Andrew to move. "Charles has to say to his face, 'There's no choice here, you must now leave Royal Lodge,'" another insider explained to The Times. "I think that would do a lot to assuage public anger." It appears that Andrew may be amenable to leaving, although he is attempting to negotiate for two homes as a compromise.

Fortunately for Charles, he doesn't have to work alone. Royal experts believe William, Prince of Wales, is also weighing in on these decisions. "He's very unhappy about Prince Andrew. Thinks he's totally damaging to the royal band," royal historian Kate Williams asserted to Channel 4 News. While some of William's views might create tensions with Charles, the king will likely welcome William's support to solve yet another Andrew-related PR headache.