What next for the royals after latest Andrew controversy?

Uncertainty and a ‘trail of devastation.’ This is how experts describe the royal family’s situation following the deepening Andrew scandal.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor faces growing pressure over his friendship with paedophile and financier, Jeffrey Epstein.

The pressure ramped up even further earlier this week amid an ongoing police investigation into possible misconduct in public office after allegations that Andrew shared confidential government documents with Epstein.

There are also growing calls for the former duke, who was stripped of his royal titles last year, to agree to testify in front of the US Congress hearing on Epstein.

The King made a rare public statement through Buckingham Palace, expressing his ‘profound concern’ at allegations involving Andrew.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, consistently the most popular royals, also said through a spokesperson that they are ‘deeply concerned’ about the revelations involving Epstein.

Meanwhile, popularity ratings for the royal family and monarchy hover between business as usual and dwindling, depending on who you ask.

A poll commissioned by Republic, an anti-monarchist campaign group, released earlier this week showed support for the monarchy at 45%, while YouGov’s latest figures from mid-January placed public’s support for the royal establishment in general at 59%.

With already such a sticky start to the year for the royal family, what moves can we expect next?

‘Andrew has three options left’

Duncan Larcombe, a royal commentator and former royal editor of The Sun, described the royal family as a ‘giant, block of stone and it takes an awful lot to move it.’

‘There are very few options left to deal with Andrew. I think that Andrew’s destiny is going to be either in front of Congress in America, in front of MPs in the UK, or worse still, in front of a jury,’ he told Metro.

The biggest loser in the unenviable situation is likely to be the King, who has ‘very few options left to deal with Andrew,’ Larcombe said.

While Andrew continues to insist he is innocent – and he has consistently denied any accusations of wrongdoing in relation to Epstein – he has left ‘a trail of devastation behind him,’ including an impact on his daughters, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, the royal expert said.

‘He is denying everything, but the fact is, it still has an impact on his family, which is shocking.’

When asked about the survival of the royal family as an institution, Larcombe believes there is stil a ‘desire to have a royal family,’ demonstrated by the popularity of William and Kate, and ‘how the nation reacted to the Queen’s death.’

‘Unprecedented situation’

Richard Fitzwilliams, a PR expert and royal commentator, told Metro the royal family has an ‘unprecedented situation’ in their hands that could drag on for years.

He said: ‘The main problem is that the royal family don’t know what they will be facing.

‘They got him out of the Royal Lodge, but there he is on his high horse in Sandringham.

‘Quite honestly, exile would be the best possible solution to all this.

He said the royal family are waiting for what could come out in the next tranche of Epstein files.

The situation could also change if there is a shift in power in the US if the Democrats win the next midterm elections and remove redactions from the Epstein documents.

Fitzwilliams said the statements from both the King and Wales’s teams earlier this week suggest a lack of ‘concerted strategy’ on the PR front.

‘Because if there had been, there would not have been two statements rushed out like that,’ he added.

He said another unknown in the mix is how to handle Andrew’s ex wife Sarah Ferguson, now an outsider from the royal family, who was also named in the latest batch of Epstein files. 

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