From Andrew Scandal to Aftershocks: How Crisis Is Testing the Royal Family

The fish rots from the head, as the saying goes. However, in the case of Buckingham Palace, the institution appears to be under increasing scrutiny, and the royal family doesn’t seem to be aware of it. After weeks of unraveling new information from the Jeffrey Epstein archives, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, previously Prince Andrew , was detained by authorities on February 19, 2026, on suspicion of misconduct in public service. In almost 400 years, he was the first senior British royal to be arrested. Hours later, he was freed without being charged. The royals’ controversies, however, didn’t start there. In October 2025, leaked emails confirmed Andrew had written to Epstein: “We are in this together and will have to rise above it.” That same month, King Charles III initiated a formal process to strip Andrew of all his royal titles, including “Prince” and “His Royal Highness.” Sarah Ferguson lost her titles too. The public exhaled. Some expected the palace to maintain a lower profile. It did not. Disgraced former prince Andrew has finally completed his move from the Royal Lodge, with one local labelling the stunning 31-room mansion a ‘ghost town’. https://t.co/xDlNp8vPkj pic.twitter.com/noJ6Lw9q6H — The Nightly (@thenightlyau) April 12, 2026 Princess Beatrice , the eldest daughter of Andrew and Ferguson, was promoted from trustee to deputy patron of the youth charity Outward Bound, a position Andrew had previously held, just days after they were stripped of their titles. At St. James’s Palace, the royal family held a sophisticated reception to commemorate the promotion. The timing raised eyebrows. Meanwhile, most Britons would be shocked at the king’s punishment for Andrew . Andrew was moved from his lifelong home at the Royal Lodge in Windsor to Marsh Farm, a five-bedroom brick cottage on the grounds of Sandringham. A mansion, in other words, while Britain is in the grip of a housing crisis. Daily Mail royal expert Richard Eden offered a scathing critique: “The stripping of Andrew’s titles looks more and more like a slap on the wrist. Practically every day, we see Andrew riding horses around Windsor — who’s paying for that? His allowance — who’s paying for that?” Speaking of riding horses, Beatrice was photographed doing it openly alongside her father shortly after his relocation. Then there’s the issue of the throne. Despite the arrests, leaked emails, and global outcry, Andrew is still ranked eighth in the line of succession. The Australian government has already expressed its support for preventing him from ever becoming king. Sarah Ferguson claimed the late Queen ‘speaks’ to her through the royal corgis – and was linked to a plan to clone the dogs for TV, leaving the Firm ‘appalled’ #DailyExpress https://t.co/qJJ27B9Svp pic.twitter.com/Vc2UuJrwnr — Daily Express (@Daily_Express) April 12, 2026 If Andrew’s saga wasn’t enough, Ferguson added her own chapter. Reports surfaced that the former duchess was exploring public relations companies to manufacture a comeback, prompting one friend to ask: “The public is disgusted by what they have read. And how would she pay a new PR team to rescue her reputation?” According to a separate Daily Mail report, Ferguson had considered featuring Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis — which she inherited after the monarch’s death — in a reality TV program, with discussions involving the prospect of cloning the royal canines. Ferguson’s representative rejected the report. In a separate development, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle allegedly proposed a summer vacation at Sandringham to King Charles in March 2026. Charles was not interested, according to people close to the king who spoke to the Daily Mail, especially since the Sussexes had already exposed the concept to the media. Beatrice and Eugenie will “end up losing their royal titles” eventually, according to royal expert Richard Palmer, who spoke to The Mirror. The situation has raised broader questions about public support for the institution.