The royal family is still reeling from the shock of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest. But there’s one member who is quietly pleased to see the former prince’s downfall. That’s Prince William, who has never liked his uncle and has wanted him ousted from his position of privilege for many years. And that’s not only due to Andrew’s association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but the result of grudges the Prince of Wales has held for many years against Andrew and his ex, Sarah Ferguson.
Issues between the Wales family and the Yorks surfaced in the mid 1990s when Fergie, newly divorced from Andrew, published a memoir called My Story about her time in the royal family. William’s mother, Princess Diana, asked her former sister-in-law not to include personal details about her and was upset when she did.
Diana was not amused when Fergie, now 66, shared a story about the time she wore a pair of Diana’s shoes, and allegedly caught a verruca. The pair had a falling out, also caused by “jealousy and competitiveness” on Fergie’s side, according to biographer Andrew Lownie, and when Diana died in 1997, the two women hadn’t spoken for a year.
Disrespect after Diana’s death
After Diana’s death, it was rumoured that Fergie discussed doing a lucrative deal with a magazine to share further details about the late princess. This would not have pleased William, says the insider.
Neither would he have been impressed with stories that circulated about his uncle badmouthing his mother after her death. UK TV star Denise Welch has revealed that shortly after Diana died, she attended an event with Andrew and was upset by things he said about the princess that were “very disrespectful”. She has never divulged exactly what he said.
As a future monarch, William, 43, cares very much about the reputation of his family, and has long been unhappy with his aunt and uncle. He was so cross with Fergie in 2010 when she was filmed by an undercover reporter offering to “sell” access to Andrew, 66, for just over a million dollars that she didn’t get an invitation to his wedding the following year.
Tension over Kate
He was also angered by the way Andrew treated his bride-to-be, Catherine.
“William has held a grudge against Andrew for being unwelcoming when he first introduced the then-Kate Middleton to the family,” says royal correspondent Richard Kay.
That’s backed up by fellow expert Andrew Lownie, who adds that Andrew “wasn’t nice when Kate came into the family. He thought she wasn’t posh enough”.
William has long questioned what use Andrew is to the royal family, says Russell Myers, whose biography, William and Catherine: The Monarchy’s New Era – The Inside Story, has just been published.
A long-standing dislike
“Long before Andrew was embroiled in the Epstein scandal, William thought his uncle was an ignoramus,” says Russell, adding that William also disapproved of the was Andrew treated employees.
“He’d seen how Andrew behaved in front of staff, ordering people about, the aggressive or dismissive manner.”
According to Russell, William began campaigning for Andrew to be kicked out of the royal fold after his disastrous 2019 BBC interview about his ties to Epstein.
William pushes Andrew out
“He wanted him out of the picture immediately before the rot further set in,” Russell quotes a source as saying. “William’s view was that Andrew got himself into the whole mess, so he should be left to his own devices to sort it out away from the family.”
“William was adamant the whole episode would never go away and despite how others felt, there was absolutely no upside in Andrew being protected. “His view was crystal clear. Andrew shouldn’t be anywhere near the family under any circumstances, not by association, not at family functions, anywhere. Every single time there was a new revelation, it would be a stain on all of the royal family.”
Snub backfires
William’s not the only one who’s not too fond of the York family. Sources say there has been tension between his wife Catherine and his cousins Princesses Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, since before the Prince and Princess of Wales married in 2011.
It allegedly goes back to a fashion show in 2008, when the sisters refused to make room in the front row for Catherine’s sister Pippa Middleton.
“It looked like they snubbed her, and as Kate and Pippa are very close, that probably wasn’t a good move,” says a source.
Later that year, Catherine, 44, and Pippa, 42, hosted a charity roller- skating party and the York sisters were left off the guest list. Beatrice did eventually end up getting an invitation but wasn’t told about the disco-themed dress code. Insiders say she was “very upset” when she arrived to find she didn’t fit in because of her outfit.
