Opinion

A Royal Rinse: Charles Scrubs Andrew, but the Stain Remains

After years of scandal, King Charles III has finally stripped Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, of all titles and booted him from his Windsor home — a move billed as a clean break for the monarchy. But behind the official statements and sympathetic nods to “victims,” the institution remains an unaccountable, publicly funded theatre of dysfunction. From Elizabeth and Margaret’s sisterly drama to Charles and Andrew’s modern banishment, the Windsors have long recycled the same moral pageant to stay relevant. This piece asks whether Britain’s royal family is anything more than an inherited soap opera — one financed by half a billion pounds a year, defended by nostalgia, and applauded by habit.

King Charles’s decision to banish Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, may look like moral hygiene, but it’s really a centuries-old pantomime: one royal falls, another redeems, and Britain keeps paying for the encore.

The current King of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, who succeeded Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.