Government to be 'guided' by royal family on Andrew

THE Government will be “guided” by the royal family on any decision to formally strip Prince Andrew of his titles, as the Prince of Wales reportedly intends to take a more ruthless approach to his disgraced uncle and ban him from his future coronation.

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Heir-to-the-throne William was consulted on the decision that led to Andrew relinquishing his dukedom last Friday, but The Sunday Times said William “knows the ‘Andrew problem’ will be in his in-tray at some point”.

The newspaper claimed future king William will be “more ruthless” and is “not satisfied with the outcome”.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Andrew tried to get the Metropolitan Police to dig up dirt for a smear campaign against his sexual-assault accuser, Virginia Giuffre.

The force said it was looking into the allegations, after the Mail On Sunday claimed Andrew passed Ms Giuffre's date of birth and social security number to his taxpayer-funded bodyguard in 2011, and asked him to investigate.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News' Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that the issue of Prince Andrew's titles was one for the royal family to decide. He said: “I think in this we're going to be guided by the palace and the royal family.