Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor desperately tried to flaunt his ‘blue blood’ status superiority over royal rival Sir Tim Laurence on Easter Sunday, a body language expert has claimed.
Following the Royal Family‘s annual Easter Sunday service at Windsor’s St George’s Chapel in 2023, the former prince was captured holding a gate open for the clergy, Princess Anne and Sarah Ferguson as they all exited the chapel.
However, a rather disgruntled Andrew, who found himself in a ‘humiliating regal royal downgrade’, appeared to reject the prospect of stepping out behind his brother-in-law, Sir Tim Laurence, 71.
According to Judi James, the disgraced ex-Duke, 66, underwent some ‘desperate queue-jumping that muscled the eternally polite Sir Tim to the back of the queue behind him’.
The event would mark one of Andrew’s last Easters with the Royal Family following the ensuing fallout of his controversial ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Both the former prince and Sarah Ferguson have since been cast out of the royal fold and stripped of their royal titles, while their two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, have made ‘alternative plans for Easter’.
However, four years ago, the then-Duke of York was eager to claim an ‘important centre power spot’ and a ‘dominant’ role in the Firm – at the expense of Sir Tim.
Analysing the striking footage, Ms James told the Daily Mail: ‘Andrew arrives at the top of the stairs wearing a “gloating” type of smile at being the first royal to emerge and greet the cameras.
‘His eyes stare up at the corners with teeth bared. He performs a small, gallant glide to grab the gate and pull it back but his smile quickly drops as he finds himself pinned behind it and having to wait while the others go first at thanking and chatting to the clergy.’
Ms James noted that as Andrew continued to play the role of ‘doorman’, he soon realised he would be forced to ‘hold the gate open for non blue-blood Sir Tim’ and quickly began to establish a ‘get-out strategy’.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was desperate to flaunt his ‘blue blood’ status superiority over royal rival Sir Tim Laurence at the Royal Family’s Easter celebrations in 2023, a body language expert has claimed
Judi James noted that as Andrew continued to play the role of ‘doorman’, he soon realised he would be forced to ‘hold the gate open for non blue-blood Sir Tim’ and quickly began to establish a ‘get-out strategy’
‘Andrew’s apparent impatience and indignation is suggested by the way he raises his hand to hold the spear at the top of the fencing,’ Ms James noted.
‘His hand becomes a claw at the top of the pole and his lips are clamped as he scans the cameras and the public with a wary eye expression.’
While it may have been ‘more polite for Andrew to wait his turn and go last’, the former prince instead ‘looks at Tim with two intentional gestures that show he has no intention of being last after his brother-in-law here’.
‘Andrew appears to warm up to jump in via a couple of small leans or pushes inward as though he is revving up for the push,’ said Ms James.
However, the clergy then appeared to turn back to speak to Anne, leaving a ‘frowning’ Andrew ‘ignored in the conversation’.
‘This time, Andrew pushes straight in front of Tim and turns his glance to the cameras to announce his arrival in the important centre power-spot,’ added Ms James.
‘Andrew might have nodded at Tim to register the pushing-in but it seems he just ignores him, a gesture that looks like a lack of respect.’
In response to Andrew’s actions, Tim appears to ‘grin wryly’ which Ms James notes may be a ‘form of polite indulgence’.
‘He remains cold-shouldered by Andrew, pushed behind him while Fergie is pushed to the side.’
‘Andrew pushes straight in front of Tim and turns his glance to the cameras to announce his arrival in the important centre power-spot,’ added Ms James. ‘Andrew might have nodded at Tim to register the pushing-in but it seems he just ignores him’
Despite Andrew and Sir Tim’s respective naval backgrounds ‘it does not seem that they were ever close’, according to royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams
As the former prince is now ‘in his element’ and at ‘the hub of the pose’, Ms James noted that he ‘cuts off’ the clergy’s conversation with Anne in a desperate bid to ‘give the impression of being the most important and most dominant member of the group’.
Sir Tim, however, has been left in a ‘compromised’ position – with the former Duke of York seen striding off ahead while ‘leaving a slightly lost-looking Tim and Fergie in his wake’.
The striking moment between Andrew and Sir Tim comes as the former prince has been under intense public scrutiny following his arrest on his 66th birthday, February 19, on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
His arrest came over claims that the former prince may have shared sensitive information with Epstein when he was the UK’s trade envoy – but Andrew has not been arrested in relation to any sex offences.
At the time of his arrest, King Charles released a statement in which he announced that the police would have his ‘wholehearted support and co-operation’ and that ‘the law must take its course’.
Yet little is known about his sister, Princess Anne, nor Sir Tim’s views towards the ensuing scandal.
According to the Daily Mail’s Editor-At-Large Richard Kay, Anne is understood to be in contact with Andrew and remains concerned for his welfare, yet still shares the family view that the King was right to banish Andrew and strip him of his royal titles.
However, the Princess Royal, 75, is still understood to be reluctant to see her brother excluded from private family gatherings.
Despite Andrew and Sir Tim’s respective naval backgrounds ‘it does not seem that they were ever close’, according to royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams.
‘Their relations seem to have been purely formal as members of the same family,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Indicative of their tense relationship, during the Firm’s Easter celebrations in 2025, the disgraced ex-Duke approached Sir Tim ‘like a heat-seeking missile’ to share details about his links to an alleged Chinese spy, according to Ms James and a lip reader.
As members of the Royal Family gathered outside of St George’s Chapel ahead of the Easter Sunday Service in April 2025, eagle-eyed onlookers noted a rare and rather striking interaction between Andrew and Princess Anne’s husband, Sir Tim.
According to Ms James, a ‘defiant and arrogant’ Andrew looked synonymous with ‘a heat-seeking missile’ as he quickly sought to make conversation with a ‘trapped’ Vice Admiral Sir Tim, 71.
The former Duke of York approached the retired British naval officer and is said to have asked him: ‘Are you aware what happened two days ago?’ according to lip reader Nicola Hickling.
Gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder, the former prince then allegedly continued: ‘Tried to blacken me.’
The event would be Andrew’s final public Easter celebration with members of the Firm. Just six months later, he was stripped of his royal titles amid the ongoing scandal surrounding his controversial ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Yet at that time, Andrew was already embroiled in another rather notable scandal – following the release of documents in December 2024 which revealed the royal’s close bond with alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.
And video footage captured at the royal Easter celebrations certainly seemed to show Andrew struggling with the mounting crisis – as he rested his chin in his hand and appeared either ‘reflective or frustrated’, Ms Hickling noted.
It was at this moment, she claimed, that Sir Tim turned to his brother-in-law and told him clearly: ‘Andrew, you need to calm down.’
Yet Andrew appeared uninterested in acknowledging such advice and instead shook his head. In response, he said: ‘No, he won’t get away with it. We haven’t spoke in quite a while.
‘Perhaps I should ask him…’
For a brief moment, the former prince is partially obscured from the camera, before Sir Tim allegedly said: ‘Yes, yes.’
Andrew then continued: ‘And so, erm… was it yesterday? It was definitely yesterday… it’s rather difficult to know. I don’t even know why it was done.’
‘Yes, yes,’ added Sir Tim once again, before Andrew said: ‘I am bemused, and I think it will reveal itself, and then what.’
‘Anne is going to speak to you in a moment,’ Sir Tim allegedly told Andrew, marking an abrupt end to their conversation.
According to Ms James, prior to their words of exchange, Sir Tim was in ‘isolated mode’ as he stood ‘with his hands clasped behind his back in a ritual of best behaviour, silently scanning the group with a polite smile’.
She added that in contrast, ‘Andrew emerges and immediately alienates himself visually with his jacket flying open as though at a casual event, folding his arms across his body in a non-regal gesture’.
Analysing Andrew’s ‘defiant and arrogant’ body language, Ms James explained that the former prince eventually ‘finds his gap at the centre of the group and in full inelegant mode, with the stomach of his shirt protruding below his folded arms, engages Tim in active and animated conversation’.
‘With a non-royal thumb jerk in the direction of the church, Andrew turns to cut Tim off in a pose of exclusive conversation. His gestures are casual and animated, with a chin rub, inelegant leg splay and some frowning and pointing,’ she added.
‘Tim is clearly trapped but we can see Jack nearly get sucked into this social vortex before backing away.’
While Sir Tim ‘avoids any active participation or collusion signals’ and fails to return any of Andrew’s ‘intense eye contact’, Ms James noted a degree of ‘inner distress or awkwardness visible from his self-comfort rituals’.
