Prince Andrew Is Not Holding Back His Thoughts About His Royal Status

There's an old children's song called "The Grand Old Duke of York" that includes the line: "And when you're up, you're up/And when you're down, you're down." These days, that certainly fits the current Duke of York, Prince Andrew. Earlier this year, his name and reputation were destroyed when Virginia Giuffre filed a suit accusing him of having sexually assaulted her in 2001. Queen Elizabeth — his own mother — reacted by stripping him of both his military status and royal patronages, per The New York Times. The case was settled out of court for a reported $16 million, via TIME, but Andrew is still considered a private citizen. 

Like his black sheep nephew, Prince Harry, Andrew is ineligible to carry out royal duties or even appear alongside his brothers and sister at Buckingham Palace events. For instance, even if he hadn't contracted COVID-19 right before his mother's Platinum Jubilee (a development which strikes one royal expert as being suspicious), the only event he would have been allowed to attend would have been the church service at St. Paul's Cathedral. When the queen began cutting back on her engagements due to her decreased mobility, Andrew wasn't permitted to stand in for her; instead, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince William, and other family members took on the tasks. 

But could all that be changing soon? One startling report claims that the disgraced royal son is tired of standing on the sidelines and wants to get back into the game.

Now that Prince Andrew's legal troubles are behind him, he reportedly feels he has earned the right to resume living, well, royally. According to an unnamed source who spoke to The Telegraph (via The Mirror), he reportedly wants to be allowed to appear in an official capacity at state events, and to reclaim his two most important royal and military titles: His Royal Highness and Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.

"Most importantly for him is his status as HRH and 'Prince of the Blood,' and he feels that should be reinstated and his position recognized and respected," the source told the paper. Allegedly, Andrew wants his two daughters, Eugenie and Beatrice, to be promoted to official family status as well. When the princesses were still young girls, the queen and her family quietly decided that they would not become working royals, per The Express. Eugenie and Beatrice make their money through their own jobs, as well as through their inheritances.

Of course, the final decision on Prince Andrew's titles and duties lie with Her Majesty herself, and she may not be ready just yet to remove him from the royal time-out. Although Andrew will be attending Garter Day on June 13, a source told the Daily Mail that the queen and other senior royals are in talks to determine "how to support the Duke as, away from the public gaze, he seeks slowly to rebuild his life in a different direction."