For years, Buckingham Palace has tried to make one thing
abundantly clear: Andrew is no longer part of the story.
No public duties. No military titles. No HRH in any official
capacity. with The King removing that honour by Letters Patent in
2025. No place on the Buckingham Palace balcony. Even the title of
Prince is now gone, swept away by the same document signed by
Charles III in November last year.
Yet, somehow, the former Duke of York keeps finding his way back
into the headlines.
This time, it is not because of another interview or another
photograph.
Instead, Andrew is expected to give evidence via video link in
December after a man allegedly threatened him while he was walking
his dogs near Sandringham.
Let’s be clear.
Andrew is the alleged victim here.
If someone threatened him, the criminal justice system should
deal with that fairly and impartially – without fear or favour –
exactly as it would for anyone else.
But behind Palace walls, there will almost certainly be an
acceptance that this is another story the institution could have
done without.
For the Royal Household, Andrew presents a unique communications
dilemma.
Every court hearing, every legal document, every television
report inevitably revisits the same history—his association with
Jeffrey Epstein, the disastrous Newsnight interview, the settlement
of the Virginia Giuffre civil claim and his removal from public
royal life.
None of those issues is before the court in December.
Yet all of them will feature in the coverage.
That is the reality of Andrew’s public reputation.
The Palace’s strategy for several years has been remarkably
consistent – say little, do less.
Keep Andrew as far away from official royal business as
possible.
It is a strategy born not from cruelty but necessity.
King Charles has spent much of his reign trying to present a
modern, focused monarchy built around a small number of working
royals. Every renewed focus on Andrew risks distracting from that
objective.
The irony is that Andrew’s appearance as a witness is not
something Buckingham Palace can prevent.
He is, in this case, simply a witness in criminal
proceedings.
No amount of careful communications planning can stop that.
What Palace officials can do is what they have become
increasingly adept at: ensuring the institution itself stays out of
the story.
Expect no statements. Expect no commentary. Expect complete
silence.
Whether that silence succeeds is another matter entirely.
Because with Andrew, the Palace has learned one difficult lesson
above all others.
Even when he is not the one on trial, the monarchy often finds
itself in the dock of public opinion.
