Charles and William ‘won’t tolerate Andrew taking centre stage again’

Princes Charles and William won’t allow Prince Andrew to be involved in The Firm’s future events, a royal expert has claimed.

The Duke of York, 62, took centre stage at Prince Philip’s memorial this week escorting the Queen to the front row of Westminster Abbey leaving the royal family ‘dismayed’. 

It had been expected that the Dean of Westminster would take the Queen to her seat, with Andrew behind. But the shamed royal instead walked her right in front of live cameras.

The prince has been forced to step back from public life over his association with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Earlier this month he paid millions to Virginia Giuffre, who had accused him of rape. He has consistently denied her allegations.

Insiders have claimed he’ll use the opportunity as a springboard to support his mother at a Platinum Jubilee service at St Paul’s Cathedral in June and is not bothered if ‘public opinion is against him’,

However, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams has now suggested there is ‘no way’ William and Charles will accept Andrew’s part in the celebrations.  

He told the Mirror: ‘In terms of royal events, I don’t expect we will see Prince Andrew appear in the near future – if ever again.

‘He won’t play any kind of a role in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, of that I think we can be quite sure.

‘Prince Charles and William will be totally apposed to it, it’s a non-starter.’

Earlier this week the Daily Mail revealed that senior royals had ‘reluctantly’ accepted Andrew would travel with the Queen to London because they live so close to each other.

However, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams has now suggested there is ‘no way’ William and Charles will accept Andrew’s part in the celebrations (pictured together) 

But they had hoped ‘common sense’ would prevail and that Andrew would not seek to play a prominent role in his first public appearance since he struck the out-of-court settlement with Epstein victim Mrs Giuffre, 38.

A family source said that senior royals – including Prince Charles and the Duke of Cambridge – were ‘dismayed’ by events and that Andrew’s decision to put himself ‘front and centre’ of the service had caused ‘consternation’,

However, experts have also suggested walk with Andrew was the Queen’s way of signalling it’s ‘ok’ and that Her Majesty is ‘very clearly stating that he has a role at family occasions’.     

Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nichol said the Queen ‘deliberately chose to have Andrew play such a prominent role’ to show the public ‘she still makes decisions’.  

Buckingham Palace told bankers a mysterious £750,000 gift to Prince Andrew was for his daughter Princess Beatrice’s wedding. Pictured: Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi at their wedding 

‘This was the Queen’s way of showing two things; one, that the buck stops with her, and she makes the decisions, and secondly that she believes he’s innocent. She made the point very, very clearly.

‘But Charles and William were very aware of the perspective, of the optics of this 

‘Unfortunately, this picture [of Prince Andrew escorting the Queen] has overtaken what should have been a memorial to a great man.’ 

The reports come as Prince Andrew has become embroiled in another scandal  as Buckingham Palace told bankers a mysterious £750,000 gift to The Duke was for his daughter Princess Beatrice’s wedding.

The Daily Mail has obtained details of an astonishing phone call to his private secretary at the time – deepening the riddle over the money.

The Duchess of York and Princess Eugenie have also been named in the High Court as having received large amounts of cash.

The extraordinary case involves an alleged fraudster who set up a scheme described in legal documents as ‘apparent money laundering’. The Mail revealed yesterday how 77-year-old Turkish millionairess Nebahat Isbilen claims to have been scammed out of her fortune by businessman Selman Turk. She is suing him in the High Court over £40million she says is missing.

She claims £1.1million of her money ended up with Andrew. He has repaid £750,000 but has not explained why it was paid into his account at royal bank Coutts in November 2019 in the first place 

Mrs Isbilen alleges she was tricked into giving the duke the money by Mr Turk, who she says falsely told her the payment was because Andrew had helped her obtain a passport.

Now the Mail can reveal that the duke’s former private secretary Amanda Thirsk gave the wedding explanation for the payment. Beatrice married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a private ceremony in Windsor in July 2020.