Prince Andrew and Diana 'lobbied Queen hard' to have William become king instead of Charles, claims book
LONDON, ENGLAND- In a shocking claim, Prince Andrew reportedly "lobbied hard" to prevent Charles from becoming king, a new book has revealed. The 62 year old has been in the public spotlight after the Queen's death on September 8.
The Duke of York was allowed to wear his military uniform during a vigil inside Westminster Hall as the late monarch lay in state. The decision was made by his brother, King Charles, although he was prevented from wearing it during the Queen's state funeral procession on Monday, September 19.
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The 62-year-old is no longer a working royal after scandals erupted because of his close association with convicted sex offender, the late Jeffrey Epstein and the civil sex assault case he was embroiled in. He was kept away from the media glare and was not invited to the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022.
In January, Andrew had been slapped with a civil sex assault case by Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 years old. Following this, he had to give up his HRH title, that distinguishes a person as “royal” over others. Andrew also had to give up his patronages and honorary military roles. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum.
According to the Mirror, a new biography has spilled the beans on how Camilla, the Queen Consort, won over senior royals and how Andrew didn't want Charles to be king. The outlet reports that the two brothers did not have a cordial relationship, except for a short period while they were both married, and Camilla caused evident cracks within the family.
The relationship between King Charles and Andrew has been rocky, considering they were the first and second in the line of succession at one point in time. It was the exact 'heir and the spare' equation that dogged Prince William and Prince Harry. As per reports, both are said to have very different personalities, values and approach to life and don't always have the same viewpoint.
Prince Andrew was Queen Elizabeth II's favourite, and she sought advice from him around the time Charles married Camilla. An abridged extract from ‘Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall: From Outcast to Queen Consort’, shared by The Telegraph reveals how a senior insider told the author, Angela Levin about the same.
The insider said that the Duke of York tried to persuade the Queen to stop Charles from marrying Camilla by being "quite poisonous, mean, unhelpful and very nasty about Camilla". The same royal source added that when Princess Diana was alive, through her friendship with Andrew’s wife Sarah, she "plotted with Andrew to try to push Prince Charles aside" so that Andrew could become Regent to Prince William, who was a teen then. Andrew's behaviour was said to be "very, very negative and extremely unpleasant" to the Queen, who disagreed with him.