Prince William was the member of the Royal Family who ‘set the wheels in motion’ to strip the disgraced Prince Andrew of his royal patronages after the late Queen’s soft spot for her second son caused delays, a new book has claimed

A new royal book has shed light on Prince William’s role in Prince Andrew’s royal downfall, contradicting previous reports that the move to strip the Duke of York of his patronages was a joint effort.

Reports at the time claimed that Prince William and King Charles, were in “lockstep” over the decision to remove Prince Andrew’s ‘HRH’ styling and his honorary military roles, but Omid Scobie writes in his new offering Endgame that it was in fact William alone who pushed for something to be done over his disgraced uncle.

The book was released today and detailed that Prince William “set the wheels in motion” to remove these royal trappings from his uncle in January 2022, when the “prospect of an out-of-court settlement involving money from the family’s private wealth were all damaging the monarchy’s reputation.”

Andrew was accused by Virginia Giuffre – a victim of Jeffrey Epstein – of sexually assaulting her three times: once in London, at convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s home, once in New York, and once on Epstein’s private island Little St. James. Andrew has consistently denied the allegations, but settled a civil suit with Guiffre out of court for a sum reported to be around £12m.

Diving into the moment the Duke was stripped of his royal duties, Scobie writes that a source told him Andrew “knew it was coming”, however, William’s leading role was a surprise. The journalist claims that “William was keenly aware that the horrific allegations, the fallout from the embarrassing interview, and now the prospect of an out-of-court settlement involving money from the family’s private wealth were all damaging the monarchy’s reputation.” So the future King decided to act.

Despite her soft spot for Prince Andrew – who was widely reported to be the Queen’s favourite child, the late monarch was still “the official face of Andrew’s reckoning” and dealt the final blow formally. Scobie also claimed that “Even though several working members of the family wanted to see Andrew curtailed, neither Charles nor the Queen appeared ready to take him to task themselves. While Charles openly detested Andrew’s indiscretions, he didn’t want to be the one to break his younger brother.”

The author also reported that a source close to William told him at the time that his father isn’t ‘competent’ enough to deal with Andrew, adding that their style of leadership is ‘completely different’.

Scobie reported that William understood that the late Queen as head of the family had to be the one to make the decisive move when it came to removing his military titles and HRH styling, but that without encouragement he didn’t know if she would. “He felt she would remain ‘soft’ on his uncle if he didn’t forcefully express his concerns to his grandmother,” the book claims.