RICHARD EDEN: Prince Harry or Prince Andrew could still become our monarch if disaster strikes. Now courtiers tell me why King Charles won’t act

Prince Andrew is considered such an embarrassment to the royal family that Buckingham Palace insiders informed the press this week that he should “do the decent thing” and voluntarily withdraw from public view over Christmas.

No sooner had these insiders’ views been published than the Duke of York said he would not be joining the rest of his family at Sandringham at all following the fallout from the so-called ‘Chinese spy scandal’.

His ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, whose presence after a 30-year absence during the public walk from the church on Christmas Day last year was considered so important, is also expected to stay away from the private retreat in Norfolk. The couple’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, had reportedly already decided that they would spend the holidays with their in-laws instead of the Windsors.

It then emerged that the Duke and Duchess had also pulled out of King Charles’ private pre-Christmas lunch for family and friends at Buckingham Palace today.

But despite all this, Andrew still holds a prestigious and potentially important role in the monarchy.

Like his cousin Prince Harry, who also ‘stepped back’ from royal duties, Andrew is a state adviser.

That means he is one of seven members of the royal family legally entitled to replace the king, who is still undergoing cancer treatment, ‘in the event that [he] cannot temporarily perform his official duties as sovereign due to illness or absence abroad.

Until 2022, the State Advisors were Queen Camilla, Prince William, Harry, Prince Andrew and his eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice. But many found this situation inappropriate because the Dukes of York and Sussex, as well as Beatrice, are not working royals.

The Duke of York and King Charles together during the Queen’s belated Diamond Jubilee ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in London

Later that year, the king asked Parliament to add his sister, Princess Anne, and brother, Prince Edward, to the list.

It was reported that he decided not to remove Harry and Andrew because he did not want to escalate tensions in the family.

So not only are Andrew and Harry both State Advisors, they also retain their place in the line of succession, the Duke of Sussex in fifth place, the Duke of York in eighth place.

Think about that for a moment: Andrew is seen as such a threat to the royal family’s reputation that he cannot be seen in public with them, yet he is considered a suitable candidate to replace our head of state.

Meanwhile, Harry, who publicly criticized the royals and betrayed his family with his tasteless memoir Spare, is said to be in line to succeed the king if disaster strikes the Windsors.

This situation seems to me to be going in the wrong direction.

The king should strip Andrew and Harry of their possessions formal rolesand place them in the line of succession, while privately treating them as lovers, if he so chooses.

Andrew has repeatedly shown that he has terrible judgment when it comes to friends and colleagues. His decade-long friendship with Chinese alleged spy Yang Tengbo, mentioned this week, is just the latest example.

The letter sent by the Duke’s senior adviser, Dominic Hampshire, in 2020 telling Yang that “outside of his closest internal confidantes, you are right at the top of a tree that a lot of people would like to be in” is exasperating embarrassing and highly damaging to the monarchy.

That includes the document found on Yang’s phone that contained “key talking points” for a conversation with Andrew, saying the prince was “in a desperate situation and will take anything.”

A courtier told me this week that the king would take no further action against his brother – or youngest son – because he prefers to avoid confrontation where possible.

“His Majesty does not want to further aggravate family tensions,” the source said. ‘By nature he is a unifier, not a divider.’

But I fear that the events of the past few days have made the king look weak. By using civil servants to implore Andrew to ‘do the decent thing’ and stay out of the public eye, and even urging his estranged wife, Sarah, to help him avoid going to Sandringham, our monarch was put in the position of brought a supplicant.

Instead, he should be in charge: strip Andrew of his formal positions, but then invite him to spend Christmas with his family as a brother.

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