Shortly after 10am on Thursday, I arrived at my local High Street bank having just heard the news and, unable to stop myself, I shouted: ‘Prince Andrew has been arrested!’
I swear every person in there – from the security guards to tellers, pensioners taking out a tenner, the local florist and smartly dressed businessmen – reacted with a cheer.
It felt as if with the arrest of the shamed ex-Prince on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the festering sore at the heart of the Royal family was finally being lanced. And people were glad of it.
As he prepared to deal with the worst crisis to have hit the Royals in living memory, King Charles issued a perfectly poised statement that must have been extremely painful for him, distancing himself from his brother and stating that ‘the law must take its course’.
But where was William in all of this? All we know is that he and Princess Catherine ‘approved of’ the King’s statement. Why haven’t we heard more from them?
We learn that behind the scenes, William is Andrew’s fiercest critic in the royal family. That he rightly feels both the late Queen and his father indulged his awful uncle for far too long.
Back in 2022, he even gave the Queen an ultimatum telling her that he would not attend an Order of the Garter Ceremony at Windsor if Andrew was there, as he intended to be.
And the Queen backed down, telling Andrew, her favourite son, he would not be able to attend the public elements of the ceremony.
William is Andrew’s most fierce critic in the royal family, but why haven’t we heard from him yet? asks Amanda Platell
King Charles, aged 77, performed 533 official engagements in 2025 while his hand-wringing son William, 43, did just 202
So the steel is there. As is the fury. Which he could not contain when Andrew sidled up to him at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral on the steps of Westminster Cathedral.
His face seemed contorted with anger.
So why are we not hearing more from him now? Is it because he is the most reluctant King-in-waiting we’ve ever had?
Instead of addressing the issue in public, he chose to do a BBC interview on men’s mental health, alongside Professor Green, a rapper and singer-songwriter.
All very worthy and an important subject. But it sounded self-indulgent. The headline was ‘William Gets Candid’ and he talked about his own mental health struggles as a first responder when he was a pilot for the air ambulance service dating back to 2015.
For one thing, given the way Andrew’s friend Jeffrey Epstein abused and trafficked girls, women’s mental health would have been the more timely topic.
And surely he should be tackling the matter of the moment, the unprecedented threat to the Monarchy presented by the Andrew crisis. William is its future and he should be out and about, front and centre, reminding us of the undoubted benefits of the royals, trying to ensure the Firm’s survival. Not whingeing on about how he was ‘carrying everyone else’s emotional baggage’ and it was ‘really weighing me down’, and he needed time out to recover.
Willliam and Kate do pitifully few royal appearances, claiming they prioritise the ‘impact’ of royal engagements over the ‘volume’. But that won’t wash.
King Charles, aged 77, performed 533 official engagements in 2025 while battling cancer, while his hand-wringing son William, 43, did just 202.
When Charles was Prince of Wales as William is now, he conducted over 530 royal engagements every year, including 100 visits to foreign countries when he too had a young family, and when William and Harry were grieving after their mother Diana’s death.
Of course we have the utmost compassion for Kate and for William during her cancer treatment. We understand why he took time out from royal duties.
But the way he and Kate moved to their new Forest Lodge ‘forever home’ buried deep in Great Windsor Park in 150 acres of a fenced-off, no-go zone, gives the impression they want to to distance themselves as far as possible from the rigours and demands of royal life.
It is time for William to man up and front up. Does he want the top job or doesn’t he? Does he want the Royals to carry on or not?
There is no doubt that Andrew is potentially a mortal threat to the monarchy, but if William really is as reluctant to become King as he appears to be, it could be that he’ll become the problem, and not just the Andrew.
Amanda’s got talent
Ahead of her return as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent in what will be her 20th year on the show, Amanda Holden confesses: ‘I can’t watch myself back… I get on my own nerves.’
Mine too! She’s a happily married woman with two beautiful daughters and the successful co-host of Heart Breakfast, the UK’s biggest daily commercial radio show; she looks more beautiful than any woman has a right to at 55 – plus she’s sweet and lovely to boot. All enough to get on anyone’s nerves.
Amanda Holden in promotional content from ITV for the upcoming 19th season of Britain’s Got Talent
In a phone-in on Nick Ferrari’s LBC show to discuss government plans to reduce the £10.7 billion funding for children with special educational needs, a mother explained why she’s terrified and why it’s unjust. She said her daughter suffers from – wait for it – ‘Emotional Based School Avoidance due to high levels of anxiety’. Yes, such a ‘syndrome’ exists and we taxpayers stump up for it, although in the old days we called it bunking off school.
Dark side of Emily
Wuthering Heights has defied critics, taking £56million worldwide on its first weekend – and is especially loved by Gen Z.
Would the snowflakes have been so keen if they knew Emily Bronte had a dark side, revealed in a biography?
When Emily’s dog Keeper climbed onto her bed with muddy paws, she punched him in the face, leaving him ‘half-blind and stupefied’. Her cruelty must have been the inspiration for Heathcliff celebrating his elopement with Isabella by hanging her dog.
Brooklyn Beckham is erasing all family tattoos and unfollowing not just old friends but also his parents.
Yet on a date night with wife Nicola he wears the £250,000 Patek Philippe Nautilus watch his father gave him on his 21st. He’s also clutching a bottle of his dad’s favourite wine, a Chateau Margaux 1982.
An olive branch aimed at David? Unlikely. More probably a photo-op by the Insta sandwich maker reminding his detractors that he will always be coining it off Brand Beckham.
As the cold, rainy weather continues to dampen spirits, I recommend the movie Train Dreams. The Oscar contender, which cost just $10 million to make, is life-enhancing and tearfully tragic. As its star Joel Edgerton, whose character carries his family loss like a mountain on his back, said: ‘It’s a small movie that speaks loudly.’
Former Love Island star Maura Higgins, currently starring in The Traitors US, is a chameleon who changes her men as often as her looks.
For now, she is single and modelling for lingerie line Victoria’s Secrets, wearing a bra and knickers with ‘Victoria’ in large letters. It reminds me of that scene in Back To The Future where Michael J Fox reappears and everyone thinks he’s called Calvin Klein, as that’s what’s on his undies. Confusing for your next boyfriend, Maura!
Former Love Island star Maura Higgins modeling for Victoria’s Secret on her Instagram
In his Netflix series Being Gordon Ramsay, the chef denies he bullied the family of Adam Peaty, his new son-in-law, insisting: ‘I am certainly not a bully.’ Tell that to actress Amanda Barrie, who said his behaviour on Hell’s Kitchen left contestants needing tranquilisers. And Edwina Currie, whom he called ‘diseased’ and a ‘pathetic b***h’.
We need the Checkout Chicks
New employment laws have led to a generation who’ve never had a job, but whose fault is it?
Many of these highly qualified young people haven’t worked a day in their lives. I started in lowly paid weekend and holiday jobs.
At 16, I was Coles Checkout Chick of the Month, working a ten-hour supermarket shift.
Great news that Emily Atack, David Tennant, Danny Dyer and Aidan Turner are all getting a £1.5million payday for the next Disney+ series of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals. After all, Jilly made about £10million out of her sexy novels. As one wag wrote, Emily and co-stars are laughing all the way to the bonk.
More to celebrate at the Winter Olympics – GB’s men’s curling team made it to the final. Scots Bruce, Hammy, Bobby and Grant, friends since school, are clean-cut young men who never swear or kick off. Truly a band of brothers. I’ll be cheering them on for gold – even if I don’t understand the game.
The Centre for Migration Control reveals that we have paid £15billion in benefits to migrant households over the past 18 months, and that homes with at least one jobless foreign national take up 70 per cent of the bill. It’s enough to make us taxpayers choke on our Cheerios.
Pup’s new name may be triggering
A happy ending at last for the two-year-old goldendoodle abandoned by his cruel owner at the JetBlue check-in desk at Nevada airport after she discovered she didn’t have his travel documents with her.
JetBlue, the dog abandoned at Nevada airport last year
She then tied him to the counter where he loyally remained while she travelled on alone.
The owner has now been prosecuted, the pooch rescued and found a home. He has also been given the new name of JetBlue, which I think is unfortunate as that may have unhappy memories for him. I’d call him True Blue.