Royals’ secret Andrew torment – ‘nervous breakdowns, tears and crisis talks’

The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor on his 66th birthday marked the first time a senior royal had been detained for centuries – but the crisis surrounding the King’s brother is far from over

Emails from the Epstein files seem to indicate that confidential material was shared with the sex offender from an address allegedly belonging to Andrew while he was working as UK Trade Envoy – even after he had previously claimed to have cut the paedophile off. One email sent on Christmas Eve 2010 included material about investment opportunities in the reconstruction of Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Now, as Andrew’s life crumbles, a crisis has also gripped the wider House of Windsor. Here, the Mirror takes a look at what is going on behind closed doors…

Andrew ‘unstable and ranting’

Royal experts tell the Mirror that it’s no surprise that Andrew is struggling as the life he had always known comes crashing down around him. “He is an arrogant, self-assured man – but even he must be feeling the heat. To live with this kind of pressure must take its toll on anyone – unless they are somehow completely oblivious to the gathering storm. He must be living with constant fear about what will be revealed next,” says Jennie Bond, former royal correspondent for the BBC.

Commentator Afua Acheampong-Hagan adds, “I don’t doubt that this has had a great effect on his mental health. I don’t doubt that at all, but again, two things can be true at once: this can be affecting his mental health but he still has to be held accountable.”

Andrew is reportedly in denial over his fall from grace, and particularly his eviction from Windsor’s Royal Lodge. “He refused to leave or take any responsibility,” a source told The Sun.

The former Prince Andrew spent most of his 66th birthday in police custody, and the Royal Family have been left reeling from the crisis. He was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, and was released pending further investigation, only for it to emerge that the government will be considering removing him from the line of succession altogether once any and all police investigations are complete.

Currently, Andrew is eighth in line to the throne, but if all the realms of which King Charles is head of state agree, an act of parliament could see him lose this final marker of the royal status he was born with. Charles has already unceremoniously stripped Andrew of his titles and styles, but it has done little to stifle public outcry over Andrew’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The release of millions of documents, dubbed the Epstein files, by the US Department of Justice seemed to shed new light on Andrew’s friendship with the disgraced financier, and that of his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who has gone to ground amid the scandal. Behind closed doors, the House of Windsor is enduring what is one of its biggest crises to date. Indeed, the days when scandalous divorces or Prince Harry’s candour seemed like the royals’ biggest problems are long gone.

“When he was told to get out he was so arrogant and deluded he repeatedly shouted, ‘But I’m the Queen’s second son, you can’t do this to me’. It is extraordinary he chose to use the Queen’s name in his defence. No one is quite sure if the reality of his dire situation has hit home even yet.”

Andrew is said to have lost touch with reality, and royal expert Tom Sykes claimed he still makes Sandringham staff call him “Sir” – not that he has any staff of his own left.

“Andrew is having difficulty acknowledging reality and it was increasingly causing concern at the Palace,” a source told the Mail, claiming that the former prince is furious that he will have to shelve his plans for a state funeral. “[He] envisaged a grand affair in St George’s Chapel in Windsor, televised to a grieving nation, but his plans have been put in the shredder,” a source said.

King Charles’ ‘devastation’

The monarch himself is said to be completely devastated by the scandal and his brother’s arrest last week. The Times reports that Charles had an “inkling” there was more to come regarding his younger brother’s connection to Epstein last year, but that he along with the other Windsors had “accepted [Andrew’s] version events out of loyalty.”

Insiders have revealed that the mood inside the palace is not good. One aide dubbed the situation “unprecedented” and another admitted it was “devastating” for King Charles, who is continuing to undergo treatment for cancer. The monarch has said that he will support the police in their enquiries and royal sources have claimed that he did not know ahead of time that Andrew was going to be arrested.

However, the Times claims in recent months “Charles was determined to act, spurred on by the Queen who has campaigned for years to raise awareness of sexual violence against women.”

Beatrice ‘having a nervous breakdown’

Princess Beatrice is reported to be struggling intensely behind closed doors as her parents’ ties to Epstein continue to cause a major scandal – with new scrutiny levelled at her and her younger sister, Princess Eugenie.

Emails in the Epstein files appear to indicate that as a young adult, Beatrice became embroiled in her parents’ friendship with the sex offender. In emails allegedly from Ferguson, the former Duchess of York tells Epstein that Beatrice agrees that he had served his time for sex crimes against a child in 2008 and deserved to move on with his life. Further, in 2016, Epstein told an acquaintance that Beatrice “likes” him.

Andrew with his daughters Eugenie and Beatrice(Image: UK Press via Getty Images)

Royal expert Afua Acheampong Hagan tells the Mirror that she finds it pretty “grim” if these emails paint an accurate picture of Beatrice’s relationship with the sex offender. “That’s weird,” the expert says, “Gross, to be honest. It’s so difficult, because at this point she knows he is a convicted a sex offender right, that’s grim to me.”

The expert pointed out that Epstein – who had wormed his way into rooms filled with the great and the good across the world – likely had the ability to be very charming, and to an upper-class woman who was a member of the British establishment, it was unlikely he would have shown the same behaviour or treatment as his victims received. “I absolutely, 100 percent believe that they were lovely to [Beatrice], definitely,” Afua explains, “He was probably very pleasant, he was probably very generous, he was probably fun to be around. But two things can be true at the same time, you can be charming but you can also be a paedophile.”

Now, Beatrice is said to be struggling to come to terms with “the enormity of her father’s alleged crimes. It is an incredibly painful process.”

A source told Tom Sykes for the Royalist: “Beatrice is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She is horrified by what has been revealed about her father, as any child would be, and of course her absolute sympathy is with the victims.”

Princess Eugenie is reported to have cut off her father after the recent correspondence between him and Epstein emerged, in part because of her work with the Anti Slavery Collective – a charity that she co-founded that work to support victims of trafficking. Royal author Andrew Lownie, who penned an explosive biography about Andrew and Sarah, tells the Mirror that in his view Beatrice and Eugenie are “deeply involved” in the scandal.

“The fact is they were all part of the same ecosystem,” Lownie claims. “They certainly didn’t, even in their twenties, when they [were] dealing with these people they didn’t raise any concerns. It’s only now, when they’ve been caught, that they think they need to try and distance themselves.”

The two sisters are reported to be holding “crisis talks” as the scandal engulfing their parents continues on, with the pair said to be “mortified” at their mother’s relationship with Epstein – which Lownie has claimed was at times sexual.

Fergie gone to ground

After reportedly fleeing to an expensive and lavish wellness retreat in Switzerland in January, Ferguson is thought to be back in the UK. However, she remains in hiding, with no public sightings of the former duchess made since the scandal exploded. She was staying at the £13,000-a-day Paracelsus Recovery Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland and is said to have left at the end of January.

Now, she is apparently, “laying low with friends” and “in constant tears”, convinced that it is vital to keep her “distance” from Andrew, with whom she remained very close after their divorce in the mid-1990s.

“People have been talking about her secretly getting out abroad but that would involve planning and money and stealth and she hasn’t got any of those things,” a source told the Mail. “She is not in a good place. She is a very delicate human.”

Lownie believes that Ferguson needs to offer testimony to the US Congress and share what she knows about Epstein. “She saw all this stuff, she was deeply involved,” says Lownie.

“She needs to answer some questions, she’s always refused to comment on anything and I think they need to come after her, there are grounds for both of them to be investigated”.

Prince Harry’s silence

Harry’s position on Andrew has been vindicated after former duke’s arrest(Image: Getty Images)

For a long time, Prince Harry was the only member of the House of Windsor to ever publicly speak about the allegations levied at Andrew. In his memoir, Spare, Harry pointed out that whilst his and Meghan had their police security unceremoniously stripped, Andrew retained his long after he stopped being a working royal, even though he was accused of serious crimes.

“Despite being involved in an embarrassing scandal, accused of having sexually abused a young woman, nobody had suggested removing his security. People may have a lot of grievances towards us, but sexual offences weren’t one of them,” Harry wrote.

A source with inside knowledge told the Mirror in the aftermath of Andrew’s arrest: “Harry made his views about Andrew abundantly clear in his book three years ago, at a time when other parts of the institution remained silent. For that candour he was vilified and ostracised by the institution, sections of the press and significant parts of British society for ‘airing the family’s dirty laundry’ and challenging the status quo. I’m not surprised he isn’t leaping up to start offering his two cents on this.”

William ‘tense’ amid crisis

A body language expert pointed out signs of tension at the BAFTA awards(Image: AP)

BAFTAs president Prince William and Princess Kate appeared at the awards this weekend – their first appearance since Andrew’s arrest. However, the glitzy affair was mired by what is going on in the background.

When one reporter asked the couple if the monarchy was “in peril”, the future king and queen made a swift exit. At one stage Kate gently urged her husband to “look at the people” a lip reader decoded, with the future King replying, “Watch your step” as they went inside.

Body language and communications expert Judi James believes there were “subtle signs of suppressed or masked tension” visible at the high-profile event, while William himself told how he had not managed to watch award-winning film Hamnet because he was not in “calm state”.