Princess Anne, Edward's reaction to King's move against Andrew revealed

King Charles's siblings were initially opposed to his decision to strip Andrew of his royal titles and expel him from his royal residence amid media scrutiny and public pressure over his links to Jeffery Epstein.

According to a journalist, contrary to what the media reported, Prince William was not the driving force behind the king's move against the former Duke of York.  

Speaking on The News Agents podcast, journalist Emily Maitlis said, "To be honest I have not probably understood, and I think many in media have not understood Prince William was not actually the one driving this."

She said, "I was told that it was Prince William, actually, who's most concerned about the state of his uncle's mental health, something that he takes very seriously. His work and Kate's work has been very close to the issues of mental health."

Speaking about how Andrew's siblings reacted, Maitlis said, "And I was also told that there was a bit of discomfort, maybe that's too strong, there was a bit of nervousness from the siblings. From Prince Edward and from Prince Anne, who didn't want their eldest brother to go too hard on their other brother, Andrew."

The Canadian-born British journalist added, "But it was the king himself, who had nerves of steel, and again, contrary to what we read in the newspapers. I heard, originally there was extremely strong pushback from Andrew, who was trying to find every means and every reasons he could to resist this." 

Speaking about how Andrew was convinced, she revealed, "When I asked  what brought Andrew around, I was told that the monarch had made himself see the ultimate threat. In other words, and this is the phrase that was used to me, I don't think these are the words the king used. "You will topple us all." 

"In other words Andrew did not want that on his shoulders. The journalist said the idea was to make Andrew think "Would your mother really want to see you putting at risk the whole establishment."