King Charles' decision to strip Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his prince title is a move Queen Elizabeth II would never have supported, per an expert.
On October 30, Buckingham Palace announced that the King had decided to strip Andrew of his "style, titles and honors" in the wake of his closeness to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It was also announced that Andrew would be moving from the Royal Lodge.
"This must have been a painful decision for the King — this is his brother, after all," royal author Christopher Andersen told Us Weekly.
"Charles must know how much booting Andrew out of the royal family would have hurt his mother, the late queen," Andersen added. "I can’t imagine Elizabeth II would have ever gone this far — not ever."
According ot Andersen, the Queen protected her "favorite" child "to the very end" of her life. "She did what she could to protect him."
The author noted that there was a "lot of tension" between Charles, 76, and Andrew over the latter’s living in the Royal Lodge. Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson had lived in the Royal Lodge rent-free for 22 years since they had a lease that allowed them to stay there until 2078.
Andrew’s downfall began when Epstein’s victim, Virginia Giuffre, alleged that she was forced to have sex with him when she was only 17. She sued the former prince in 2021, and the duo settled outside court. While Virginia passed away in April this year, details in her posthumous memoir and new leaked emails between Andrew and Epstein have landed the former Duke of York in hot water again.