Even as the United Kingdom mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the rumor mill keeps on churning. According to an alleged royal insider, Prince Andrew tried to stop King Charles III from ascending to the throne. Here’s why that just doesn’t compute.
Prince Andrew Allegedly Tried To Stop Charles’ Wedding
According to a new report, Prince Andrew tried to stand in the way of his older brother’s succession. As an alleged insider recently told The Telegraph, Andrew always vied for Charles’ position. As the article explains, Charles and Andrew never quite saw eye-to-eye—not on family and definitely not on the future of the monarchy.
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According to the tipster, Andrew and his then-wife Sarah Ferguson tried to get Charles booted from the line of succession. “When Diana was alive, through her friendship with Andrew’s wife Sarah, [Duchess of York] she plotted with Andrew to try to push Prince Charles aside so Prince Andrew could become Regent to Prince William, who was then a teenager,” this tipster whispers.
“They were dark and strange times, where paranoia became reality, and this was a worry. Andrew lobbied very hard with the hope that Charles would not become king when his mother died, and that William would wear the crown … Nonetheless, he was apparently very angry that he couldn’t rule the country in some way. He remained so hostile to Camilla’s emergence and acceptance that it’s doubtful it has ever been forgiven.”
So, is it true that Charles and Andrew have been nursing a secret grudge over an attempted coup? It’s doubtful. We can’t pretend to know what the brothers’ relationship looks like these days, but we’re sure Andrew knows enough about royal protocol to know such an attempt would be futile.
The Line Of Succession Is Law
As plenty of royalists probably know, a reigning monarch doesn’t have the capability to just edit the line of succession. The line of succession is a matter of law. As it says on the official website of the monarchy: “A Sovereign can be deprived of his/her title through misgovernment. The Act of Settlement confirmed that it was for Parliament to determine the title to the throne.”
That simply means that the monarch rules only by the grace of Parliament—the ultimate deciders of the line of succession. Even if Andrew managed to convince his mother that Charles was unfit to rule, he would then need to petition Parliament and convince the British government of the same thing.
There’s a lot that’s been said of Prince Andrew in recent years, but his political savvy or interest in the throne has never been particularly highlighted. That’s to say that even if Andrew intended to sabotage his brother, it would take a severe lapse in judgment to go about it in this way. So, given what we know, it’s safe to say that this supposed royal courtier probably had their facts wrong.