On Friday, October 17, two big royal stories about the future of Prince Andrew dropped within 90 minutes of each other. Each story got top billing on their respective sites:

• King Charles considers removing Prince Andrew’s Duke of York title by Kate Mansey of the Times (3:40 p.m. BST): “Charles is ‘considering all options,’ a royal source said. One option would be to remove the dukedom from Andrew.

  Such a move would require an act of parliament, but it would be likely to receive government and public support, particularly if it had the King’s backing. It is hoped that Andrew might voluntarily give up the title before being forced, however.’

• King considers banishing Prince Andrew from Order of the Garter by Mark Duell of the Daily Mail (5:07 p.m. BST): “The King is urgently and actively considering banishing Prince Andrew from the Order of the Garter, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal. Top-level discussions are under way at Buckingham Palace after the latest embarrassing scandals involving the Duke of York. It is even possible there could be an official announcement later today. The Order of the Garter, founded by Edward III in 1348, is Britain’s most senior order of chivalry. It is an honour known to be highly prized by Andrew, and its removal would be a serious blow for him. The monarch can strip the honour from members of the order, although it is understood that Charles would much prefer his brother to voluntarily relinquish the title.’

Both stories are eerily similar:

• The King is fed up with the drip-drip of scandal involving Prince Andrew, especially his relationship with the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein

• The wrongdoing doesn’t stop with Epstein but extends to Andrew’s shady business dealings, including the prince inviting the senior Chinese official at the centre of a major Beijing spy case for lunch at Buckingham Palace in 2018.

• All options are on the table as the King considers how to distance the monarchy from his brother’s misconduct and impropriety.

• He would prefer that Andrew “voluntarily” relinquish the title of Duke of York (Times article) or honour of being a Knight of the Order of the Garter (Daily Mail piece). His continued presence on the list of Counsellors of State, who can act on behalf of the monarch, is also up for discussion.

• The King knows that removing the title of Duke of York would require an act of Parliament but that would likely get broad support, given that Andrew ’s popularity is at nine percent, according to the latest YouGov findings.

If there was one clarifying moment that forced palace officials and the King to contemplate such drastic measures, it was how Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, acted at the funeral of the Duchess of Kent on September 16. Instead of discreetly entering and exiting by a side door, they grabbed prime positions in front of the cameras at the end of the funeral, as all the royals stood outside Westminster Cathedral. At times, they could be seen laughing and giggling. In particular, there was a deeply uncomfortable moment when Andrew tried to strike up a conversation with his nephew, Prince William, who froze him out and refused to respond.

That event symbolized all that is wrong with the couple. Even though they are regularly being engulfed with scandal, they love the spotlight and revel in their positions within the royal family (he’s the brother of the monarch and eighth in the line of succession) to the point they can’t see why others are perturbed by their actions. It was the same at Christmas in 2023, when they made sure they got prime spots in the annual walk to church.

That Prince Andrew may soon face real consequences for his actions has to be of interest to his nephew living in Montecito. In the past five years, Prince Harry has attacked and embarrassed his family on a multitude of fronts.

The list is too long for this piece, but includes him effectively labelling his family as racists in the Oprah interview (then, two years later, he reversed course and blamed the media for that label, saying he was talking about unconscious bias); made a fortune by blasting his family on Netflix; got paid more millions for revealing his side of events in his memoir (including his account of a physical fight with his brother, saying Queen Camilla left “bodies in the street,” and a private conversation with his father after Prince Phillip’s funeral); and repeatedly embarrassing his family in a series of legal cases, including his demand that he be automatically given blanket police protection whenever he visits the United Kingdom. After he lost that appeal, he lashed out at his father — “Do you not want to ensure our safety?” he asked of the King, whom Harry believes has the ability to order the elected government to provide what Harry wants.

At the same time, Harry clings to his Duke of Sussex title the same way his uncle holds on to his titles and honours.

While King Charles seems to want a reconciliation with Harry, there’s no sign of rapprochement from Prince William. One day, he will be monarch. Will William use the template being created to deal with Prince Andrew against his own brother?