As the dust settles on the exile of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, King Charles should be applauded for insisting they are chucked out of Royal Lodge.
But did he act swiftly enough for future Queen Catherine?
After all, she and William and their three children have just moved into their forever home, Forest Lodge in Windsor Great Park. And, despite the King’s edict, Andrew and Fergie are still in their palatial home just over a mile down the road – and they could be there for months before their eviction.
Sources claim that, behind the scenes, Kate has been relentless in her demands for Andrew to be gone. Operating with an iron first she is reportedly determined that her young family should be nowhere near the putrid stench of the Yorks and their revolting behaviour.
Along with William she has by all accounts been one of the driving forces to see them banished from sight as soon as humanly possible.
Yes, the same sweet Kate who, with flowing tresses, made those loving home videos about her family and her recovery from cancer. The smiling Kate who captures people’s hearts across the world with her spontaneous charm, her empathy and indefatigable stoicism in the face of serious illness.
Yet what is becoming ever more apparent is that this Princess Perfect has an inner core of steel, and she is unafraid to use it in the case of Andrew.
And who can blame her? Like all of us, she is appalled by Andrew’s arrogance, by his and Fergie’s grotesque association with Jeffrey Epstein as well as by the couple’s overweaning self-regard.
What is becoming ever more apparent is that the smiling Kate who captures people’s hearts across the world has an inner core of steel
Kate is reportedly determined that her young family should be nowhere near the putrid stench of Andrew and Sarah and their revolting behaviour
But in Kate’s case the animus runs deeper. Historian Andrew Lownie points out in his book on the disgraced ex-prince that Andrew made ‘rude’ remarks about Kate in the past and was disrespectful to her.
So disrespectful that William, apparently, was left ‘infuriated’ and it led to a bitter feud between the two men.
Back in the day when Kate was joining the Royal Family, she would have had to curtsy to boorish Andrew. And he’s the sort of snob who would have insisted on deference from a commoner as Kate then was. And not just a commoner but the daughter of Carole, a former air hostess. Can’t you just imagine Andrew lording it over her?
How the tables have turned! Now he is stripped of being a prince, Andrew will have to bow to Kate if ever they meet – he’ll even have to bow to his own daughters.
The irony won’t be lost on our future Queen. Forget for a moment that admirable do-gooding image we all have of her – where Andrew and Fergie are concerned she’ll take no prisoners.
As for Harry and Meghan, she will have no truck with them either, and surely backs William’s decision to cut them out of their lives.
Why wouldn’t she, after all the spiteful things they have said about her and her husband and the rest of the Royal Family?
Making an enemy of the Princess of Wales is a bad idea. Harry and Meghan have found this out to their cost, and so have Andrew and Fergie. What’s the betting they are out of Royal Lodge sooner than expected, so that Kate and William and their young family can settle into their new home and decorate the Christmas tree without the neighbours from hell?
Underneath that angelic persona there’s a tigress protecting her brood in Kate who’s as tough as tungsten. Heaven help anyone who tries to get in her way.
Power of poppies
As we approach Remembrance Day, remember it is Army vets like Warren Howell, 51, we’re supporting.
Suffering from PTSD, he says he was saved by the Royal British Legion’s ‘battle back’ course.
It helped him fight his demons as several of his comrades committed suicide after the horrors they saw in Bosnia.
Now for the first time in 30 years he is able to take his medals out on 11/11. That’s what a pound in the Poppy Appeal does. Although might I suggest a tenner?
Labour Wars
David Lammy says he didn’t have a poppy on his suit in PMQs, as he’d dashed out to buy a new one knowing his godmother was watching. Lord alive man, the least you could have done was find a suit that fitted over your bulging stomach.
The Labour-supporting Guardian’s verdict on Rachel Reeves’ pre-budget speech was ‘excruciating’, ‘more wooden than the panelling behind her’ and that her manifesto promises of not increasing taxes were now ‘such obvious obfuscations they amounted to lying’. Oh, and devastatingly, it questioned whether that manifesto promise was ‘just some bulls**t to win an election’.
I was glad when Canadian TV revealed Alan Carr had won Traitors before the final was aired here. It spared me having to watch it. I know it’s a big TV hit but I’ve failed to get through a single episode. A show about people betraying friends is something I can do without.
The oldest surviving victim of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal Betty Brown, 92, says that after getting a settlement she can turn up the heating full blast. Bless her. And what resilience so typical of her generation that Betty says she can now snuggle up and ‘look to the future’.
Let’s face it, the BBC is wrong
BBC presenter Martine Croxall has been sanctioned for rolling her eyes as she corrected an autocue which said ‘pregnant people’ – to ‘women’. Not fair. As I know after repeatedly escaping detention at school for ‘silent insolence’ you can’t admonish anyone for a facial expression, however contemptuous.
OSCAR winner Anthony Hopkins, 87, accepts he has behaved badly – but won’t let people categorise him as neurodivergent. ‘It’s all nonsense, rubbish, ADHD, OCD, Asperger’s blah blah blah,’ he says. ‘Oh God it’s just called living, it’s being a human being, full of tangled webs and mysteries. It is the human condition.’ Raise a nice Chianti to his wisdom – perhaps without the liver and fava beans.
After accepting his knighthood, an emotional David Beckham revealed the suit he wore was the first his wife Victoria had ever made him – and it made him cry.
Probably because he saw the pictures afterwards of the horribly shiny morning suit which gives a whole new twist to the idea of a knight in shining armour.
Royal watch
Prince Harry opines on ‘What It Means To Be British’, including ‘banter and bravery’, ahead of his Remembrance Day appearance in Canada. Maybe he should have added that other key ingredient – loyalty to King and Country.
Meghan is making a movie playing herself, a truly scary thought. Which Megs will we get, the suicidal one discussed in her Oprah interview? Care-free jam-making Megs, the female empowering role-model mother? Humanitarian of the Year? Let’s hope for the crew’s sake she doesn’t bake for them. There’s only so much lemon drivel anyone can take.
Families of the three girls murdered by the Southport killer say his parents knew what their son was capable of, knew about his obsession with knives, and failed to do anything about it, thereby ‘allowing evil unchecked in their own home’ – adding that they should be held culpable.
Grim Kardashian
Despite excoriating reviews of Kim Kardashian’s TV drama All’s Fair, I couldn’t take my eyes off her as ball-breaking lawyer Allura Grant – because I was waiting for the moment her face might actually move.
In his book The Windsor Legacy, author Robert Jobson says Charles was devastated by Diana’s death and told a servant of the Queen Mother: ‘We were very much in love in the early days.’ Hmmm, not so very much in love that he gave up Camilla for good.
