Charles & Andrew feud ‘has NO end in sight – they’ve never been close & duke is embarrassment to the King’, expert says
KING Charles and Prince Andrew were never close and are very different people - with no end in sight to their feud, a royal expert claims.
The monarch, 75, is allegedly threatening to severe ties with his younger brother the Duke of York, 64, over his failure to vacate Royal Lodge.
Andrew - often dubbed Elizabeth II's favourite child - shares the home, on the grounds of Windsor Castle, with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and is reported to be refusing to budge.
The shamed duke will never return to public duty after paying millions to settle an abuse case with a Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking victim, and Charles has been trying to evict him from the 30-room property for 18 months.
Since taking the throne, the King has been looking to cut costs, including slimming down the core of the Firm itself.
Charles and Andrew's feud appears to mirror that of the King's own sons Prince William and Prince Harry.
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Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told The Sun: "The King has undoubtedly got a problem, and the Royal Family very, very clearly have extremely serious and embarrassing perpetual problem with Prince Andrew."
He said the differences between the two brothers, however, have been striking their whole lives.
"They seem to have gone on as complete opposites, really, in so many ways," he explained.
"Of course, there's a 12-year age gap between King Charles and Prince Andrew," he continued, adding they "hadn't got that much in common".
"Charles is rather sort of intellectual, serious, sensitive. Andrew rather bumptious, outgoing."
He did point out the siblings shared the feat of being "considered amongst the most desirable males on the planet" in their youths.
And aside from their differing personalities, Mr Fitzwilliams said: "I think they got on reasonably well in the early years."
In fact, there was a "long period" when they "conducted engagements together, and so forth", he added.
"Apparently Charles used to like to read to Andrew when he was very young."
Andrew was even one of the best men at the then-Prince of Wales' wedding to Princess Diana in 1981.
Mr Fitzwilliams said: "It seems that at their distance they got on pretty well over quite a long period of time."
He pinpointed the period when Andrew's marriage to the Duchess of York "started to disintegrate, and Sarah Ferguson was involved in a variety of controversial activities" that bad blood came to the surface.
"I mean, I think, very clearly Charles had doubts," he continued, adding there were issues with "the way Andrew handled his post" as a "special representative for British trade".
"Things culminating, obviously, with the disastrous interview on Newsnight, but I mean Andrew's friendship with the deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was the reason that he lost his job, and Charles must have been very concerned about the some of the company that his brother was keeping."
King Charles and Prince Andrew's relationship
King Charles and Prince Andrew are reported to have been closer as children, despite their 12-year age gap.
There are claims the now-monarch used to read bedtime stories to the young Duke of York, and they did attend royal duties together.
In 1981, Andrew was one of multiple best men at Charles' wedding to Princess Diana.
Some royal experts suggest their relationship began to waiver after the Duke began dating Sarah Ferguson in 1985, who he then married the following year.
Richard Fitzwilliams pinpointed the period when Andrew's marriage "started to disintegrate, and Sarah Ferguson was involved in a variety of controversial activities" that bad blood came to the surface.
"I mean, I think, very clearly Charles had doubts," he continued, adding there were also issues with "the way Andrew handled his post" as a "special representative for British trade".
In November 2019, things really came to a head when Andrew's disastrous Newsnight interview was aired, in which he failed to say he regretted his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The pair appear to have first met in the early 1990s.
Mr Fitzwilliams added: "Charles must have been very concerned about the some of the company that his brother was keeping."
Andrew was forced back from royal duties after the BBC broadcast and was later stripped of various titles and patronages amid his legal dispute with Virginia Giuffre.
Any hope that the attitude towards Andrew would soften now that Charles is King doesn't appear realistic.
Andrew was forced by the late Queen to take a step back from active duties after the car crash interview in November 2019 - dramatised this year in Netflix show Scoop.
And he was eventually stripped of his titles and patronages amid his court ordeal with trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre.
Referring to the Royal Lodge dispute, Mr Fitzwilliams said: "You could argue what's the point of him now?
"He has no royal role, he never will have. So what happens, and then he should get any money.
"Well, this is up to the King, obviously. It's an embarrassing situation.
"The facts are, however, he still remains a terrible and dreadful embarrassment to the Royal Family, but that is a different matter."
He described Andrew living at Royal Lodge "at a peppercorn rent", adding he "certainly" does not think Charles "wants some form of public showdown".
"Since Andrew's got to live somewhere, since he's actually got a lease, it's very difficult to so to speak, evict," Mr Fitzwilliams continued.
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"I don't see this dying down at all but I don't see it resolving itself.
"You look over a long period of time span, and you see what the King sees, and that is that Andrew... has no obvious future."