Andrew has been “ranked alongside traitors” dating back to the First World War following the decision made by King Charles, a royal expert has told GB News.
Speaking to the People’s Channel, royal biographer Robert Hardman said the removal of all of Andrew’s titles, styles and honours by his brother is “incredibly wounding”.
King Charles has stripped Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his Prince and Duke of York titles.
The disgraced royal’s name no longer appears on the official Roll of the Peerage, marking a key step in formally removing his titles.
Robert Hardman has said that Andrew has been ranked ‘among traitors’ by King Charles
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GB NEWS / GETTY
Reflecting on Andrew’s considerable downfall, Mr Hardman told GB News: “I don’t think it was an existential threat to the monarchy, let’s not forget it’s been through comparable crises certainly over the last hundred years. But it was a very grave problem on two fronts.
“One, it was just distracting from everything that the King and the working family were trying to do. The fact that the King goes to meet the Pope, that’s historic stuff, and that’s been sort of pushed into the margins by the latest Andrew shenanigans, so that’s that’s one issue.”
He added: “And the other issue is nobody knows where this particular story is going, because it’s now nearly 15 years since since my sister paper, the Mail on Sunday broke all this with that picture of Virginia Giuffre.
“And it was again the Mail on Sunday’s exclusive the other day which really moved this on, when they showed the statement by Andrew back in 2019, when he said he’d severed links with Jeffrey Epstein and had nothing more to do with him since 2010.
“And the Mail on Sunday produced emails from 2011 saying ‘let’s play again soon’, so clearly that wasn’t true. So if that’s not true, what else isn’t true?”
Admitting he was “amazed” by the “severity” of the decision on Andrew, the royal biographer explained: “That I think is what prompted the King to say ‘we’re going to deal with this’. And I like most people, was amazed by the severity of what happened last night.
“Two weeks ago, we had that statement saying he’s no longer getting any of his titles, that was big, and people felt that didn’t go far enough. Then the issue became all about his house and well, as of last night, the house has gone.”
Comparing the stripping of Andrew’s titles and residence to historic events, Mr Hardman said the King has ranked his brother “alongside traitors”.
Mr Hardman told GB News that he was ‘amazed’ by the severity of the King’s decision
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GB NEWS
Mr Hardman explained: “He’s not moving into a smaller cottage on the Windsor estate, he’s off the plot, he’s out of Windsor. The House of Windsor is kicking him off into royal Siberia at the other end of the M11 in Norfolk, and he’s losing all his titles, all his honours.
“Those knighthoods, at least they were sort of nominally there, but they’re being stripped.”
He concluded: “For the loss of a Garter knighthood, you’ve got to go back to the Second World War. And when Emperor Hirohito of Japan had his order of the Garter taken away for the loss of the title of prince, you’ve got to go back to the First World War and the Duke of Cumberland.
“So really, he’s being ranked alongside traitors, people who fought against his country. And that is incredibly wounding for someone who fought for his country. So this is big, big punishment.”