King Charles Under ‘Pressure’ to ‘Remove’ Brother Prince Andrew From Royal Line of Succession

In the new batch of legal documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal released in early January, Prince Andrew, the late sex offender’s admitted buddy, is among the high-profile figures named in the bombshell court papers. One accuser testified in detail about a 2001 incident in which Andrew groped her breasts at Epstein’s NYC apartment. Another claimed to have seen sex tapes in which Andrew, among others, appear. Despite recanting her allegation after testifying, Sarah Ransome doubled down on Good Morning Britain January 9. “There are videos that exist and the people that know they exist,” she said. “I’m sure they’re very frightened of them being released.”

For the disgraced Duke of York, the new revelations are indeed worrying. Andrew and Buckingham Palace previously denied all allegations of sexual misconduct. But in early 2022, Andrew settled a civil suit filed by Virginia Giuffre, who accused the 63-year-old of sexually assaulting her when she was a teen. Now an insider exclusively tells Closer the alleged sex tapes are the final straw — and that King Charles III is under pressure to disown his brother. “Charles is feeling more pressure than ever to eject Andrew,” says the source. “And remove him from the line of succession.”

Andrew’s military titles were already stripped and he was relieved of royal duties in 2022 over his involvement with Epstein, a convicted pedophile and sex trafficker who committed suicide in prison in 2019. But he continues to live on royal grounds and even took part in the family’s annual Christmas Day walk with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, and their two children, Princess Beatrice, 35, and Princess Eugenie, 33.

The new documents stem from a 2015 lawsuit filed by Giuffre against Jeffrey’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s currently serving a 20-year sentence in prison for sex trafficking. “They leave no doubt about Andrew’s involvement in the whole sordid affair,” says the source. “Anyone who has tried to defend him is at their breaking point. Charles can’t protect him any longer.”

Repeat Offender

The source says the palace is “working feverishly” to protect the royal family from Andrew’s latest scandal. It’s not his first: He was dubbed “Randy Andy” in the 1980s by the U.K. press because of his hard-partying rep, and later called “Air Miles Andy” for using his royal salary to jet around the globe. He’s also been under fire for having questionable associations with the likes of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s son. In 2010, his ex-wife, “Fergie,” was outed by a U.K. tabloid sting operation promising a fake “sheik” access to the prince in exchange for more than $600,000.

Forced Out

The 75-year-old king is at his wits end with his younger brother. “Charles loves Andrew despite his faults and shortcomings, but he’s been placed in a difficult position where he must choose, and the time has come to put the monarchy first,” says the source, adding that Charles is “emotionally spent” by the drama and “has other matters to attend to.”

Prince William, 41, and Princess Kate, 42, are pushing Charles to formally give Andrew the boot. “They want nothing to do with Andrew and are furious that he continues to bring shame and embarrassment to the whole family,” says the source. “There’s nothing that Andrew can say to change their low opinion of him.”

Charles had already been thinking about evicting Andrew from the Royal Lodge, the cushy $37 million mansion he lives in with Fergie three miles from Windsor Castle. (He’s on the lease until 2078.) “Andrew is throwing a fit over it, but it’s not meant as a punishment,” says the source. “Charles simply can no longer justify Andrew living in a 30-room house in all that splendor when he’s no longer a working royal.” He’s offering Andrew the more humble Frogmore Cottage, formerly home to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. “Charles feels he’s being more than gracious by allowing Andrew to take up residence there.”

In Denial

Andrew has remained mum on the new revelations. (While the U.K. police have yet to launch a formal investigation into his behavior, a legal expert told the U.K.’s Independent “there is nothing barring the [U.S.] government from arresting Prince Andrew.”) “He continues to deny he did anything wrong and says he knew nothing about these events,” says the source. In his disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC, he claimed he did not have sex with an underage Virginia and had “no recollection” of ever meeting her. He also downplayed his friendship with Epstein. “He’s still act- ing like he’s a victim,” says the source. “He believes his settlement with Virginia should’ve closed the lid on this case, and he feels aggrieved that it didn’t.”

Still, his former wife and their children are standing by him. “Fergie supports Andrew and thinks he’s been treated unfairly by the press and the royal family,” says the source. (She herself had to apologize for once borrowing $24,000 from Epstein, calling it “a terrible error of judgment” and saying she “abhor[s] pedophilia and any sexual abuse of children.”) Beatrice and Eugenie, meanwhile, “refuse to believe their dad did these things. They admit he’s not a saint, but they say he’s not a pedophile either. It’s like they’re walking around with blinders on.”