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Behind the Scenes with True Royalty

Royal experts say Prince Andrew escorting The Queen shows who wields power in the Royal Family

Prince Andrew’s appearance at Prince Philip’s memorial service and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s recent Caribbean tour were both hot topics on the new episode of “The Royal Beat” titled “The House of Windsor: Changing Tides” on streaming service True Royalty TV.

While biographer and royal correspondent Katie Nicholl said the March 29 memorial for Prince Philip “was a celebration of his life,” the topic of Prince Andrew escorting Her Majesty couldn’t be ignored by the show’s panel.

Robert Jobson, royal editor of the Evening Standard, broke the story that Andrew would be accompanying his mother into the service.

Stating that he was “not defending him in any way,” Jobson pointed out that the people in the front row were The Queen’s and Prince Philip’s children and their spouses, seated in order by age.

“She’s a woman of faith and forgiveness,” Jobson said, adding that “everyone else had a partner … so [Andrew] was the natural person to do it. It was her decision.”

Duncan Larcombe, former royal editor of The Sun and author of “Prince Harry: The Inside Story,” said “it was a very bold decision to make from The Queen, because let’s not forget, the guy she’s standing next to there in the picture might be his son, but he is a pariah at the moment in the court of public opinion.”

Sharing that Prince William and Prince Charles both were against Andrew walking her into Westminster Abbey, Nicholl said, “This was The Queen’s way of showing two things: one, that the buck stops with her, and she makes the decisions, and secondly … that she believes he’s innocent. She’s making the point very, very clearly. Unfortunately, this picture [of Prince Andrew escorting the Queen] has overtaken what should have been a memorial to a great man.”

Moving on to the Cambridges’ Caribbean tour, Jobson said that “I don’t think that they put many feet wrong … they were very well received wherever they went.”

Adding that there was criticism about colonial overtones of the military parade and the Cambridges riding in the same open top vehicle as The Queen and Prince Philip, he said, “The people there insisted — they were so proud of this car, that they’ve kept pristine for many, many years — they wanted it in the parade, they insisted it be in the parade. The palace tried to kick back against this, they said ‘we don’t think this is a good look’ … the fact was, that’s what the host nation wanted.”

Larcombe said “it many ways it was an absolutely flawless tour” but that tours today are different than they were even 10 years ago, with Nicholl chiming in that when Prince Harry went to Jamaica a decade ago, “Jamaica at this point was just as republic-leaning as it is today … but actually I think we are just in a different climate, we have moved on.”

True Royalty is the first and only streaming service exclusively for royal content with a range of documentaries and programmes about royal families of today and throughout history; subscriptions start at £4.99 monthly.

About author

Kristin was Chief Reporter for Royal Central until 2022 and has been following the British royal family for more than 30 years. Kristin has appeared in UK and U.S. media outlets discussing the British royals including BBC Breakfast, BBC World News, Sky News, the Associated Press, TIME, The Washington Post, and many others.