Royal princes reportedly at war: Andrew, Charles and William — will they ever reunite?

Prince Andrew spent a recent weekend, as he has many weekends now since that infamous friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, wondering what he can do with his life — his family has had to, in public, at least disown him for the sake of the monarchy, and while he can still depend on his gracious mother, the queen, it appears that not everyone close within the family is keen to see his return to any kind of public life. 

Andrew’s biggest problem now is this: He may have wished to have fought the legal battle against the Epstein case in full public glare like he did with the now infamous "Newsnight" interview, but he was forced, some say, into a step-down by a meeting with both Prince William and William’s father, Prince Charles, who sagely advised that this "public washing of laundry" in the platinum jubilee was in fact doomed to spare our gracious monarch, the queen, with any kind of further embarrassment.

Andrew faces the wrath of his older brother Prince Charles even more now than ever, but have they ever really seen eye to eye? It’s reported that the queen sees Andrew as her "favorite" son, and something he has played up to quite a lot despite Prince Charles having the higher public role. It always infuriated Charles that Andrew could do no wrong in the eyes of his mother who had more time for him simply because she had grown into her role by the time Andrew had arrived. Charles has had to simply work harder he feels than ever as Andrew was known back in the day as the fun-loving party prince, good-looking and always seen with the right people at all the hottest spots plus endless model girlfriends, while Charles always appeared more sour and dour by comparison. 

Today the relationship is virtually non-existent due to the extra workload that Charles and William have undertaken since the queen has almost semi-retired now which left Andrew to fill his time watching old movies on TV — visiting his mother at the castle and plotting that comeback which may now never happen.

KATE MIDDLETON, PRINCE WILLIAM APPEAR IN FIRST OFFICIAL JOINT PORTRAIT 

The Duke of York had reportedly intended to participate in the full service, presided over by his mother the queen at Windsor Castle, but he was restricted from some parts of the Knights of the Garter ceremony after Princes Charles and William voiced their displeasure.

The disgraced royal was then prevented from attending the festivities at Ascot and is said to be enraged at the meddling of the queen's heirs, and fears the friction between the trio could trigger a fallout among the royal family during their upcoming summer retreat at Balmoral. 

"Andrew is desperate to rebuild his life and wants his titles back," a close source tells me. "But he is fuming with Charles and William for stopping his plans."

The queen decided to strip Andrew of his royal titles and right to use his HRH status amid the controversy brought about by his ties to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

So, what next?: Royal courtiers privately refer to him as "Norma" as in the deluded screen queen from the cult movie "Sunset Boulevard" plotting a return. However, the monarchy’s "reluctance to completely remove Prince Andrew from all aspects of royal life" is "damaging" and "reflects terribly on the family," a mole tells me and that is where we are at.

Brothers at war — Charles and Andrew no longer speaking, and yet William eyeing up the future without Andrew in the frame for any kind of role in public at least. Both princes feel that Andrew should work on behind-the-scenes-charity, but this even if successful will not assure in the eyes of William any kind of return to public life. 

As one source put it, "everyone told Andrew not to do the infamous BBC interview including Prince Charles, but he went ahead and did it anyway believing and telling all that it went really well," so delusion is still high on the agenda as far as they are concerned, and it was Charles that has been left to deal with the hammer blows on the instruction sadly for the queen about his removal of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and various other events, Charles hates confrontation of any kind. The final thorny subject is this: Prince Andrew remains a counsellor of state, and as such he also believes he should be included at royal and state events. 

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Most importantly for him is his status as an HRH and "Prince of the Blood," and he feels that should be reinstated and his position recognized and respected. No one else is coming forward to back up this claim including Prince Edward, Princess Anne or Charles. A source tells me, "The duke could lobby all he wanted, if indeed he has, but whether he would ever get anything back remains a different situation."

An aide added the statement from January in which he was stripped of his roles "with the Queen's approval and agreement," still "speaks for itself." But the queen is deeply worried about the state of mind mentally with Prince Andrew as any mother would — Andrew has very little now to occupy his time aside from horse riding and family duties via his ex-wife and daughters, but he can look towards those for comfort and assurance.

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