‘They won’t be satisfied until Andrew is living in a council house’: How whispers of support among royal insiders are beginning to circulate… as RICHARD KAY reveals what REALLY went on during Prince Edward’s visit to his disgraced brother

As a young boy deprived of the love and comfort of his frequently absent parents, Prince Edward looked to his older brother Andrew for security. It was hardly an equal relationship – Andrew was louder, older and four years older than Edward – but it was a trusting relationship for Queen Elizabeth’s youngest child.

More than sixty years after those days in the Buckingham Palace nursery, it was the disgraced Andrew who turned to his closest sibling for solace.

It has emerged that Edward, now 62, was visiting his brother during the Easter holidays; This was the first member of the Royal Family to do so since Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office on her 66th birthday in February.

There was no such encounter between the King and the former Duke of York during the same period, nor did he openly invite him to join the rest of the Royal Family at the traditional Easter gathering at Windsor Castle.

Edward’s visit shows that Andrew still has support from other family members. As I revealed earlier this year, Princess Anne also had a few ‘bum’ phone calls to her brother.

But Edward’s physical presence at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk is significant. Remember, at a time when the tidal wave about Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overwhelm the monarchy, it was Edward who succeeded his father as Duke of Edinburgh, the first royal to speak publicly about the crisis.

His intervention was timely. After official statements on behalf of both Charles and Prince William failed to assuage critics, Edward addressed the issue personally and directly.

Admittedly, he was ambushed at an official media event, but he responded coolly and insisted it was important to ‘remember the victims’ in the scandal; This was something Andrew famously failed to do in his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019.

Edward and his wife Sophie were among King Charles’ most trusted family members, writes Richard Kay

He then made another point: ‘So who are the victims of all this?’ He then added ‘there are a lot of victims in this’ without answering his own question.

Many wondered if this was an indirect reference to his brother, who continued to deny all allegations against him, but whose reputation and name were completely destroyed.

Edward’s friends told me that this was not the case, that he was merely emphasizing his sympathy for young girls exploited by Epstein and his vile cronies.

Despite the damage Andrew had inflicted and continues to inflict on the image of the House of Windsor, the duke and Anne once called for moderation, while others demanded that Charles deprive his siblings of all honours, titles and positions and expel him from his home.

These days, I’m told, Edward is more in line with the general family view. ‘He shares their frustration at the criticism (more like a four-letter word) that they have all dealt with as a result of Andrew’s actions,’ says someone close to him.

‘He was there that day trying to have a rational conversation about something else and the first question he was asked was about his brother.’

So what then do we make of Edward’s decision to look after Andrew, who arrives during a short family holiday?

In recent years Edinburghers have spent part of the Easter holidays (though not Easter itself) at Sandringham, Wood Farm, where Prince Philip spent his final years.

Andrew and Edward photographed with the late Queen and Prince Philip at Balmoral in happier times in 1972

A person familiar with the situation told me that Edward’s visit to Andrew was more of a ‘pastoral nature’, writes Richard Kay

However, the farmhouse was temporarily occupied by Andrew after his overnight flight from the 30-room Royal Lodge at Windsor on 2 February, while Andrew waited for his new home, Marsh Farm, to be prepared to his satisfaction.

This means Edward and Sophie have to stay at Sandringham’s Gardens House for the duration of their stay; this property is sometimes let to the public for £4,110 per week in high season.

However, reports that Edward was sent by the King to have a ‘quiet conversation’ with his brother because he was ‘dragging his feet’ about moving to Marsh Farm are wide of the mark.

A person familiar with the situation told me that the friendly visit was more of an ‘idyllic nature’. Edward is ‘concerned about his brother’s mental health’. He finds much of the visceral hatred directed at the former prince, much of it online, to be deeply distasteful.

This is a view shared by other royals. One of them told me that there was a feeling in the family that some people wouldn’t be satisfied until Andrew was ‘on salary and living in a council house’.

In a striking coincidence, this visit comes almost exactly 25 years after the royal family was reeling from another embarrassment involving Edward and Sophie.

In April 2001, the so-called ‘fake sheikh’ controversy plunged the then Countess of Wessex into a personal crisis after it emerged that she had been duped into making cavalier remarks about other members of the Royal Family and senior politicians to an undercover reporter.

The affair lasted for weeks until Sophie left the public relations firm she had continued to run since marrying Edward in 1999.

Along with the Queen, Princess Anne and Sophie, Her Majesty began to rely on Sophie more frequently as she took on the role of a royal householder.

Of the Queen’s four children – Charles, almost a generation older, and Anne, both at boarding school – it was natural that Edward and Andrew would grow up together

But the saga isn’t over yet. Her husband had his own TV production company, Ardent, and she was accused of using official overseas visits paid for by UK taxpayers to boost the business of his business venture.

Then disaster struck. In September 2001, Prince William started four years at the University of St Andrews. After a formal photocall, media companies agreed to leave the Scottish seaside town so the prince could study without interference.

But a TV crew ignored the deal, and its boss was Prince Edward, whose production company was making a movie about his then-19-year-old nephew. In the chaos that followed, St Andrews Rector Andrew Neil, now a Daily Mail columnist, said he was almost at a loss for words. ‘We knew someone would violate and break the spirit of the deal we had brokered… but we figured it would be foreign paparazzi, or even a tabloid at university who couldn’t resist William’s charms. ‘We had no contingency plan for a company owned by his uncle disrupting this business.’

Public outcry was relentless, as both Edward and Sophie were accused of trading in their royal status. By the end of the year, and under intense pressure from the then Prince Charles, the pair ceased all business activities and were instead offered roles as junior royal employees.

At the time, Andrew was giving up his naval career and was about to take up the post of trade ambassador. The crisis was thought to have been averted. Well, how incredible is it that a quarter of a century later Edward and Sophie are among King Charles’ most trusted circle and Andrew is an outcast.

The story of how the late Queen’s youngest son and his wife, the daughter of a tire company executive, overhauled their images and helped rebuild the Windsor brand is not only fascinating, but could also offer a redemptive path for Andrew.

There were missteps and uncertainties as we embarked on the royal relaunch. ‘They weren’t sure the people would accept them,’ recalls a senior courtier at the time. ‘But the Queen saw something in both that she was sure would win over the skeptics.’

Being so close to his father, Edward had inherited Philip’s optimism rather than Andrew’s gloomy introspection and competence. And in Queen Sophie he saw a wife who never consciously sought to be the center of attention or outshine her husband.

Initially, their roles were closely watched, but over the years the Queen came to rely on Sophie as much as her own daughter, Anne.

The arrival of Lady Louise and James, now Earl of Wessex,’s two older grandchildren who, at the age of 18, were quickly becoming the poster child for the Royal Family, brought further happiness to Queen Elizabeth.

As Edward’s star rose, Andrew’s star waned.

When Charles became King, he was also won over by his older brother and aunt, whom he had once highly criticized for their careers in the private sector.

By the time Edward and Sophie began taking on full-time roles for ‘the firm’, there were far more working royals than there are today, ranking just below William and Kate in importance in the King’s eyes.

From any perspective, this is a remarkable transformation. Any lessons for Andrew?

Despite the closeness of their early days together at Buckingham Palace kindergarten and later at school, Andrew and Edward never lived in each other’s pockets. They are too different for that.

Of the Queen’s four children – Charles, almost a generation older, and Anne, both at boarding school – it was natural that Edward and Andrew would grow up together.

But while Andrew was mischievous, rowdy and challenging, Edward was quieter and unassertive. Andrew was bullying his brother, stealing food from his plate and provoking him to play a forbidden joke.

Like siblings all over the world, they fought like cats and dogs, but it was never serious.

Kindergarten staff likened them to Laurel and Hardy; Andrew was always up to mischief, and Edward was his foil. As the young prince grew older, he became wiser and was able to make Andrew look worse than he actually was. If Andrew was late for breakfast, he was sure to find the good-natured Edward already sitting at the table, eating his scrambled eggs, the picture of angelic innocence.

Their shared experiences with Valkyrie, the Shetland pony, showed that both children had different attitudes towards horses. Edward was blessed with a good ‘seat’ and a natural sense of balance; Andrew had a habit of falling and hated riding.

Still, he enjoyed grooming the pony and tackling it. So when Edward was eager to run, Andrew was grumpily trying to lead the pony back to the stables.

The gap between the two widened at Gordonstoun, where Andrew was expected to keep an eye on his younger brother. While the boastful and aloof Andrew made few friends, Edward kept his head down and formed friendships that he still has today. He also became the head boy, or ‘Guardian’ as he was known in the Scottish school; This was an honor not given to his brother.

Despite their differences, there was a lasting bond between the two. As Andrew’s world collapses, it is his little brother who provides solace of happier days.