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King Charles’ strategy to contain the fallout surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is unraveling, multiple royal experts told Fox News Digital.
As the fallen prince turns 66 on Feb. 19, the monarch is said to be increasingly concerned that more accusations about his brother’s connection to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein could soon come to light.
“The road is narrowing for Andrew as unprecedented bombshell revelations drop daily,” British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital.
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The former Prince Andrew and King Charles III attend Katharine, Duchess of Kent’s requiem mass service at Westminster Cathedral on Sept. 16, 2025, in London. The monarch stripped his disgraced brother of his princely title on Oct. 30, 2025. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“There is an air of chaos as King Charles is also seemingly being pushed down this narrowing road,” she shared.
“The public is calling for accountability, and it seems the royal family can’t get ahead of the curve, let alone on top of the current public outcry. As King Charles endures a verbal battering, being thrown into the pot of blame, many wonder if he can read the room.”
King Charles III has been receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer since February 2024. (Justin Tallis – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Chard’s comments followed remarks by Vanity Fair correspondent and royal author Katie Nicholl, who told the outlet the 77-year-old king is concerned “that more is yet to come.”
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“There’s a sense of not knowing what is coming next, and that is destabilizing,” an insider told the outlet. “The king has done everything he can; he has stripped Andrew of his titles, removed him from his home, and is trying to keep Andrew out of the picture, but it is proving to be impossible.”
On Oct. 30, the king stripped his disgraced brother of his princely title and evicted him from his royal mansion.
This undated photo shows Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein at Ascot in the U.K. (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
Demands had been growing for Buckingham Palace to act amid reports about Andrew’s friendship with Epstein and renewed allegations from one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, whose posthumous memoir was released that month.
Queen Elizabeth II and the former Prince Charles during the state opening of Parliament on Oct. 14, 2019, in London. Charles ascended to the throne upon the death of his mother in 2022. (Paul Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Andrew, long regarded as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite son, faced renewed public outrage after emails also revealed he stayed in contact with Epstein longer than he previously admitted.
Andrew now lives on the king’s Sandringham estate, Britain’s Press Association reported. He is temporarily staying at Wood Farm cottage while his permanent residence, Marsh Farm cottage, undergoes repairs. According to multiple reports, the king is personally funding Andrew’s living arrangements.
In photos released by the Department of Justice, Andrew can be seen kneeling over an unidentified woman. (Department of Justice)
“King Charles hasn’t completely kicked Andrew to the curb, funding Andrew’s living situation at present,” Chard explained. “His reasoning is likely due to a mix of family obligations and a desire to maintain control over the situation. Supporting Andrew privately allows the king to manage the narrative and minimize damage to the monarch. The irony is that it isn’t going to plan.”
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Prince Andrew was officially stripped of his royal titles and honors by King Charles III on Oct. 30, 2025. He will no longer be styled “Prince Andrew” or “His Royal Highness”, and will instead be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor (Steve Parsons – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“Despite Andrew’s tarnished reputation, King Charles agreed to look out for his brother,” Chard continued.
“He made that promise to their mother. The queen had a strong sense of duty and family obligation, which may have led her to request that King Charles look after Andrew. Andrew’s emotional and overall well-being was of great importance to her.”
A photo of Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell was found in the Justice Department’s previous release of Epstein files. (Department of Justice)
Royal experts told Fox News Digital that Charles has every reason to worry about how Andrew’s past could impact the monarchy’s future.
King Charles III is said to be concerned that more bombshells involving his disgraced brother could come to light and rock the monarchy. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Andrew’s swift relocation came as Thames Valley Police confirmed they were investigating claims that Epstein flew another woman to Britain to have sex with the king’s brother. A lawyer for the alleged victim told the BBC the encounter occurred in 2010 at Andrew’s former residence, Royal Lodge.
The allegations are separate from those made by Giuffre, who claimed she had been trafficked to Britain to have sex with Andrew in 2001, when she was just 17.
Virginia Giuffre holds a photo of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Mountbatten-Windsor also appeared multiple times in the 3 million pages of documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was known as the late queen’s favorite son. (Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images)
In an email dated March 23, 2011, an attorney for an exotic dancer alleged that Epstein and Mountbatten-Windsor asked her to take part in a threesome at the sex offender’s Florida home, according to The Associated Press.
Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has not responded publicly to the new trafficking claim.
A photo from 2001 that was included in court files shows Prince Andrew with his arm around the waist of 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre, who says Jeffrey Epstein paid her to have sex with the prince. Andrew has denied the allegations. In the background is Epstein’s girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. (U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Paul Burrell, Princess Diana’s former butler and author of “The Royal Insider,” told Fox News Digital that “the weight of monarchy weighs heavily” on the king.
“The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana” by Paul Burrell is out now. (Hachette Mobius)
“He is a father, a brother, a husband,” he said. “He has the weight of everybody on his shoulders. I often think to myself, he waited so long for this job. He waited so long to be king and wanted it so badly. I wonder if now that he has it, he should think, ‘Be careful what you wish for because in the end you get it.’ And now he has it. And what a job he has now.”
“His brother has gone rogue, and I don’t think we’ve seen the last of that yet,” Burrell warned.
A young Prince Andrew at Naval Air Station Portsmouth, circa 1983. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
“What Charles is trying to do at the moment is control the House of Windsor. If he can contain it and keep it all in its separate compartments, I think he’ll win. But he has to manage it very carefully. He can’t let people just ride roughshod over him because he’s king. Charles makes the rules. The family should abide by them.”
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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was featured in three new photos from the recent Epstein files drop. (Department of Justice)
Other correspondence between Epstein and someone believed to be Mountbatten-Windsor shows Epstein offering to arrange a date between the man and a 26-year-old Russian woman, The Associated Press reported.
The man, who signs off simply as “A,” later suggested that he and Epstein have dinner in London, either at a restaurant or Buckingham Palace.
Buckingham Palace has been facing mounting pressure to act out following the allegations involving Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. (Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
It’s also noted that the former prince’s residence at Royal Lodge has long been a point of contention between the king and his brother.
A storage van leaves the gates of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, the former home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, following his move to the Sandringham estate on Feb. 4, 2026, in Windsor. (Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)
After Charles became king in 2022, he sought to move his brother into a smaller residence on the Windsor Castle estate, the outlet reported.
Mountbatten-Windsor refused, citing a lease that runs through 2078. But pressure for Andrew to leave intensified in October as lawmakers and the public questioned the favorable terms of his 30-room Royal Lodge lease, managed by the Crown Estate.
King Charles III was crowned in May 2023. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
The Crown Estate controls properties throughout the country that are technically owned by the monarchy but are managed for the benefit of British taxpayers. The Sandringham estate in Norfolk, on the other hand, is the king’s personal property.
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Members of the media outside Marsh Farm on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk on Jan. 15, 2026. (Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images)
“Wood Farm and Marsh Farm are private residences funded privately by the king,” British royals expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital. “He is thereby honoring the late queen’s wishes. There is no possibility of any rehabilitation for Andrew.”
Royal experts told Fox News Digital that King Charles III reportedly promised his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, to look after his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
“The king is known to be forgiving — viewing it as his Christian duty as head of the Church of England — and bound by duty to protect both his brother and the monarchy by isolating him,” Fordwich said. “By funding Andrew, the king retains control. It’s containment with compassion.”
But not everyone agrees with the king’s approach, said Fordwich.
Prince William (right, pictured here) and his wife Catherine have been “deeply concerned” by the latest revelations linking Andrew to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Kensington Palace said on Feb. 9, 2026. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“Prince William has been strongly behind all the isolation of his uncle,” she said. “He wants total obscurity, full banishment. He isn’t going to protect Andrew. But the king is thinking about risk management, attempting damage control and containment.
“If left to his own devices, Andrew might turn to unsavory ways to make money, per his track record, or write a book or consider pay-for-tell-all avenues or sketchy deals, adding to the existing crisis.”
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was originally supposed to leave Royal Lodge, his 30-room mansion, by Easter 2026. (Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
Royal expert Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital that Andrew could still pose problems for the monarchy if not carefully managed.
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Ex-Prince Andrew stepped back as a senior royal in 2019 following a nuclear televised interview in which he attempted to explain his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. (Mark Richards – WPA Pool / Getty Images)
“Now that Andrew is out of the royal family, what is stopping him from telling his side of the story?” said Turner. “In my opinion, we have not seen the last of Andrew. He may find a salutary solution to vent his anger at what has happened to disgrace him.”