Prince Andrew's fate might have changed if Queen were still alive, expert

The fallout from Prince Andrew's disastrous BBC interview was a matter for the late Queen to handle, rather than the then-Prince Charles. 

The interview, which is being dramatised for the second time this year in Amazon's Prime Video series A Very Royal Scandal, compelled Buckingham Palace to act when it aired in 2019.

The disgraced Duke of York was instructed to suspend his public duties "for the foreseeable future," a decision made with the Queen's approval. 

Following the release of the latest adaptation of the interview, GB News' Royal Correspondent Cameron Walker and Royal Editor Svar Nanan-Sen discussed how the Queen had to exercise her "absolute authority" in managing the situation.

Speaking on The Royal Record, the pair spoke of a piece of information relayed to journalist Emily Maitlis after her interview with the prince by a "royal source".

Cameron explained: "Apparently, the then-Prince Charles - now King, of course - was not unhappy that the interview took place when it did, and he wasn't unhappy about how it played out in Prince Andrew's answers.

"What Emily was basically suggesting is that because Charles was still a prince and therefore not King, it was the late Queen's problem to deal with in that immediate aftermath and the fallout.

"The can had been kicked down the road with this Prince Andrew problem, because Prince Andrew's association with Jeffrey Epstein was public knowledge for around a decade or so.

"Instead of kicking the can down the road until when he was King, and [Charles] having the headache of dealing with it when he was King, it was actually his his mother's problem to deal with."

Svar added: "The Queen's authority was absolute. Once she made that decision, there would have been no way for Andrew to try and fight his corner and and persuade her otherwise.

"It's not that King Charles doesn't have that same authority, but we know that Andrew and Charles have a very frosty relationship.

"They've been feuding over Royal Lodge now for years, and Andrew has still not agreed to downsize and they remain at odds on that issue.

"For Charles, that was probably another problem with Prince Andrew which was avoided, because the Queen took decisive action at the time."

"According to many reports," Cameron said, "the late Queen's favourite son was Prince Andrew.

"It must have been very hard for Queen Elizabeth II to deal with that. But she did.

"And now, of course, it's going to play out for the world to see - yet again - on a three-part drama series on Amazon."