Fear for a weakened Crown drove King Charles' ruthless move against Andrew

Action seen as bolstering support for monarchy before William inherits the throne

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King Charles' ruthless move to banish his younger brother Andrew from public life was born of a desire to insulate a weakened monarchy before he passes on the crown, but it remains to be seen if the profound damage can be contained.

Charles stripped Andrew of his title of prince, evicted him from his mansion near Windsor Castle, and said he and the queen were thinking of survivors of abuse, to draw a line under a scandal around Andrew’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein that has buffeted the royals for years.

It marked one of the most dramatic moves against a member of the royal family in modern British history, by a king who is still undergoing regular cancer treatment and whose priority is to bolster support for the monarchy before his elder son, Prince William, inherits the throne.

But some commentators said the move should have come much earlier.

With Queen Camilla and the king’s sister-in-law Sophie both long-term campaigners against sexual violence, royal author Robert Hardman said Andrew’s ties to the US sex offender were increasingly putting the royal family in “Team Epstein”, which Charles could not live with.

“He wants to put as much distance between his brother and the monarchy as he can,” Mr Hardman, the author of Charles III: The Inside Story, told Reuters.