We’ve been playing the “will Prince Andrew actually have to face some consequences” game for four solid years. Longer than that, really, because Andrew’s association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell was common knowledge for more than two decades. Sh-t hit the fan when Andrew sat down for that BBC interview in the fall of 2019 though, and ever since, it’s been a game of “he’s no longer a working royal” and “but he still lives in a mansion and tries to talk his mother into launching a comeback for her favorite son” and “but Charles hates him” and “but Charles is perfectly fine with having Andrew around for various holidays and vacations.” The latest WTF is that Andrew, Fergie and their daughters are vacationing at Balmoral right now, and Andrew was chauffeured to church by Prince William on Sunday. People are starting to wonder if Charles is grooming his human trafficker brother for a comeback. Buckingham Palace ran to the Mail to say of course not. Hm.

King Charles is ‘absolutely resolute’ that Prince Andrew will not return to public duties and there will be no ‘change in tack’ over his royal status, insiders have claimed.

The Duke of York, 63, was seen in a car with the Prince and Princess of Wales as the family travelled to church in Balmoral yesterday in what has been branded as a ‘public statement of togetherness’. But while Andrew appeared to be well and truly back in the royal fold, experts say Charles remains firms there is ‘no possibility’ of him returning to royal duties.

A source told The Telegraph: ‘He has always been clear that the Duke is a much-loved member of the family, but that does not mean there will be a change in tack when it comes to his royal status.’

However, royal insiders allege that while Andrew will not return to public life, the King has made it clear ‘privately’ that he will ‘support his brother and help him get his life back on track’ – as evidenced by the Balmoral outing.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline the photographs of Prince Andrew travelling to church with the Waleses were ‘clearly intended to send a message of family unity’. But he insisted it was not a sign Andrew could return to public duties in any form. ‘This is a sad time for the royal family on their customary break at Balmoral. They and the nation will shortly be commemorating a year since the death of the Queen. We know how close Andrew was to the late Queen, his appearance at the Duke of Edinburgh’s Memorial Service in March 2022, where he supported her physically whilst she was giving him emotional and financial support caused much controversy. It has been reported that his allowance has been cut.’

But Mr Fitzwilliams added: ‘It is important to stress that there is no possibility, as King Charles and Prince William have always realised, of him returning to public duties in any form. A glance at his non-existent popularity ratings in the polls make the public mood very clear on this issue. However what is being emphasised is harmony on a personal level and clearly he and his immediate family, who are also at Balmoral, will appreciate this a great deal, especially as the photographs we see today are such a very public statement of togetherness.’

[From The Daily Mail]

While I’m loath to give King Charles the benefit of the doubt on anything at any time, I simply don’t believe that Charles cares enough about Andrew to even plot out some strategy to bring Andrew “back” to whatever working-royal status or what have you. Charles’s goal here is much simpler – he wanted the temporary visuals of a “happy family” gathered at Balmoral for his first summer as king, because Charles is terrified that one of these days, people will start to pick up on the fact that he’s a dogsh-t father. Like, this is all about Charles’s self-preservation, and it’s also about all of the Windsors’ single-minded obsession with Prince Harry. Everything here with Andrew is designed with Harry in mind. Charles wants to look benevolent (towards Andrew), he wants to look family-oriented (except he evicted his son, DIL and grandbabies from their British home). He also wants to say: look, this is the path Harry could take, if only he would come groveling back to us and let us control him, abuse him and manipulate him.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.