The headline for Tom Sykes’ latest Royalist Substack post is simply called “Enough!” For one brief moment, I thought Sykes rage-quit his Substack. But no, he didn’t rage-quit. He got a fresh briefing from Prince William’s allies and it’s too funny. You know how everything is in crisis in Windsor World because of the extensive fallout from the Epstein Files? You know how Prince Andrew is now being investigated by multiple police forces, and he was just arrested this morning? You know how King Charles enabled Andrew and signed off on Andrew’s settlement to Virginia Giuffre? You know how Prince William has been surrounded by Jeffrey Epstein’s cronies, allies and close friends for years? Well, all of that apparently adds up to “Charles isn’t getting it done, so William must be king now!” There isn’t an “O RLY?” big enough for this moment. From The Royalist:
We are in the midst of the biggest royal crisis since the abdication of 1936—and Prince William will use it to completely restructure the Crown. The only question is whether he gets to do that before or after his father’s death.
As Thames Valley Police assess allegations that women were trafficked to Royal Lodge the distinct possibility arises that it will emerge that King Charles knew a good bit about Prince Andrew’s long, fetid association with Jeffrey Epstein. That will leave prosecutors in [a] very uncomfortable position. If Andrew escapes conviction by saying he confided in the sovereign (the Paul Burrell defense) Charles’ reign will go down as utterly compromised by this ever-deepening scandal.
Let’s be clear: there are very real accusations of a sex trafficking ring centered on a prince who is still being bankrolled by his brother, a brother who attempted to rehabilitate him after his mother’s death, and who signed off on a $14 million dollar hush money payment to Virginia Giuffre when his mother was desperately ill.
In 1936, the monarchy faced destruction because a king chose personal desire over institutional duty. The solution was swift and brutal. Edward VIII went, was totally cut adrift and the Crown survived. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, by contrast, remains on the king’s estate.
William, who understands the structural threat Andrew poses to the monarchy, will not permit this situation to endure when he is king. Therefore it would make sense for the king, who has so badly mishandled this whole affair, to settle it now and tell Andrew to find his own place to live. He can use the excuse of new information emerging to alter Andrew’s settlement.
William has been begging his ailing father to act with clarity and determination for years. Charles should clearly strip Andrew of his place in the order of succession. He should obviously strip Beatrice and Eugenie of their titles.
Then: Harry.
William sees Andrew and Harry as different expressions of the same problem: entitlement divorced from service. The Sandringham Summit agreement was meant to draw a clean line. No HRH usage, uphold the values of the monarchy and forge commercial independence with dignity and without harming the crown. Instead, there were Netflix documentaries and memoirs dripping with grievance, allegations of racism, and Meghan printing up stationery styling herself as “HRH.” It’s a clear breach of contract.
The Sunday Times magazine recently ran a cover headlined “Arise, Queen Kate.” Charles was said to be irritated, not least because his and Camilla’s polling numbers remain in the gutter, while Catherine’s soars to heights not seen since Elizabeth II. But the headline also captured a truth no one inside the palace can ignore: the future has already arrived. The public’s emotional investment sits squarely with William and Catherine. In an age of relentless scrutiny, they are clean hands.
Charles may avoid the ignominy of abdication, but he needs to act now, and publicly make William co-monarch. Henceforth, all major decisions should be routed through William’s office, as Charles’ mother did for him. His cancer means he can plead illness—rather than confessing to the stunning incompetence with which he has handled this entire affair from start to finish.
William is deranged, my god. This piece shows that he doesn’t actually give a sh-t about Andrew’s depravity or all of the trafficking victims. William doesn’t actually care about the damage to the monarchy, which is very real. What William actually cares about is sticking a knife in his father’s back. What William actually cares about is using the Andrew situation to “punish” Harry. It’s a royalist fiction to describe William and Kate as having “clean hands” as well – William’s newly-hired crisis manager is playing Whack-a-Mole with all of the Epstein associates surrounding William. William’s big keen busywork scheme, Earthshot, is compromised because it was cofounded by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s torture-video-sending BFFs. A couple of William’s patronages took money from Epstein or had Epstein-allies on their board of trustees. No, William does not have clean hands. He’s just trying to use a crisis to his advantage.
Also: the dumbest f–king thing in the world for William to do at this moment is make a big f–king deal about how Harry should be punished just like Andrew. It comes across as crass, unserious and offensive to the very real victims of Andrew and Epstein. Andrew committed treason and sexually abused trafficked women and girls. Harry married a Black woman, moved to America and wrote a bestselling memoir. They are not the same, and it’s grossly offensive to treat them as such.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
