Prince Andrew Reportedly Once Wanted to Remove King Charles From the Line of Succession

This is... um...

prince andrew
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Prince Andrew has been disgraced in the last few years over sexual assault allegations and his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but back in the '90s, he was still very much in the Queen's good graces.

As royal expert Angela Levin writes in her book Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall: From Outcast to Queen Consort (via the Telegraph), the Queen reportedly consulted Andrew, among other people, when she was trying to decide whether she should let Charles marry Camilla, following his divorce and the revelation of their affair.

Apparently, Andrew saw this as an opportunity to push a fairly sinister agenda.

"He tried to persuade the Queen to block Charles marrying Camilla by being quite poisonous, mean, unhelpful and very nasty about Camilla," a senior insider claimed to Levin. The Duke of York reportedly backed his argument by claiming that Camilla was "insufficiently aristocratic" and "not to be trusted," per Levin's source.

Levin's source added more details that make this whole thing extra eyebrow-raising. They claimed, "Andrew lobbied very hard with the hope that Charles would not become king when his mother died, and that William would wear the crown."

When his mother didn't cede to Andrew's request, he reportedly turned against her, Levin's source claimed.

"His behavior was very, very negative and extremely unpleasant to Queen [Elizabeth], who disagreed. I was told it was one of the rare occasions he didn’t get his way," the source continued.

"Nonetheless, he was apparently very angry that he couldn't rule the country in some way. He remained so hostile to Camilla’s emergence and acceptance that it’s doubtful it has ever been forgiven."

Just...no comment.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.