Buckingham Palace has allegedly made the first step in removing disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession, a royal author has claimed. The former Duke of York, who has been banished into humiliation, is currently staying at Wood Farm in Norfolk, temporarily.
According to royal author Tom Bower, Andrew received a visitor in Norfolk who asked him to voluntarily give up his place. The author said: “As I understand it, someone went up to Sandringham last Saturday from the Palace to suggest to Andrew that you voluntarily give up the succession, and he can do that.
“He can sign a form saying ‘he renounces the succession’. That ends it straight away, and that would be the cleanest solution.
“As the emissary said, they gave me the dirty work to do, but it’s a good thing that they’ve started it, and that’s the way to handle it,” he told The Sun.
Mr Bower said Andrew was made “an offer he can’t refuse” because, in the end, he is “totally dependent” on his brother, the King.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
Earlier this month, Andrew was visited by the Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household, sparking debate over whether it was a hint that talks about his removal from the royal succession are underway.
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Though Andrew was formally stripped of his princely title and ousted from his lavish home on the Windsor Estate, he remains eighth in line to the throne.
An Act of Parliament is required to remove him from the royal succession, and, as Lord Benyon is essentially the main line of communication between the monarch and the House of Lords, his presence at Sandringham could be seen as quite telling.
The ex-prince’s fall from grace came after new disturbing details about his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein emerged in the latest tranche of documents to be released by the US Department of Justice.
Andrew’s dealings with Epstein sparked public furore, with the majority demanding that he be removed from the royal succession.
Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing.