King Charles Is Quietly Opening a Door for Andrew’s Return, Report Claims
After taking firm action against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, King Charles is reportedly softening his stance. While Mountbatten-Windsor remains sidelined from royal life, the King is said to be reassessing how far that punishment should go.
Writing for The Daily Mail, columnist Ephraim Hardcastle detailed the full scale of the measures taken against Mountbatten-Windsor. “As well as losing titles, gongs and his mansion,” Hardcastle wrote, the disgraced prince has faced a quiet erosion of everyday privileges. These included having “Royal staff funded by the King removed,” the ending of “his takeaways from Windsor Castle’s kitchens,” and even “an edict demanding he stay out of sight until he is eventually relocated.” The effect, taken together, was a steady shrinking of Mountbatten-Windsor’s presence within royal life.
The intention, it seemed, was not merely to limit Mountbatten-Windsor’s public role but to make his continued existence within royal spaces increasingly difficult. Yet Hardcastle also pointed to signs of a careful softening. The former prince’s final plea, he notes, was not to be “reduced… to the rank of commoner.” In what is described as a gentle backtracking, Charles is now reportedly “telephoning Andrew frequently” and has begun “reinstating access to staff and stables.”
These gestures suggest that while the King has no intention of restoring his brother’s standing, he remains unwilling to see him entirely stripped of dignity. That tentative thaw, however, has clear limits. Mountbatten-Windsor and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, are reportedly not among those invited to spend Christmas at Sandringham.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s fall from grace has been years in the making. He was forced to relinquish his remaining titles, including the Dukedom of York, following sustained reporting on his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Scrutiny intensified further after extracts were published from the posthumous memoir of Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim who accused Mountbatten-Windsor of sexual assault—allegations he has repeatedly and emphatically denied.
This handling of the crisis reflects a familiar royal instinct, to outwork rather than outtalk controversy. As scandals continue to hover close to the Crown, some inherited, others unresolved, Charles has largely avoided public confrontation, choosing instead to emphasise duty and visibility. With Mountbatten-Windsor remaining a persistent liability, this is not the reign Charles spent decades preparing for. Yet, as royal commentator Jennie Bond had earlier observed, the King’s response has been to keep moving, filling his diary and tightening the focus on the institution itself.
That strategy is visible in the numbers. The Court Circular, which records official engagements carried out by working members of the Royal Family, listed a total of 2,458 engagements in 2025. Of those, the King accounted for 535—more than any other royal. The figure marked a notable shift within the family, as Charles overtook his sister, Princess Anne, who has long held the informal title of the monarchy’s hardest-working member.
The achievement is particularly striking given Charles’s ongoing cancer treatment. Buckingham Palace confirmed in February 2024 that the King had been diagnosed with cancer and had begun treatment, though the specific type was not disclosed.