Ken Wharfe, Princess Diana’s former bodyguard, describes Prince Andrew as one of the smug folks he has encountered. The SAS-trained Scotland Yard inspector, who protected Diana from 1988 to 1993, labels Andrew’s ties to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein as ‘excruciatingly poisonous.’
Andrew’s Current Arrest
Andrew, 66, faces scrutiny after his arrest on February 19—his birthday—at Wooden Farm on the King’s Sandringham property in Norfolk. Thames Valley Police detained him for 11 hours on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace earlier than releasing him beneath investigation. He has not been charged and denies all allegations.
The event follows the US Division of Justice’s launch of in depth Epstein information in January. These paperwork embrace emails suggesting Andrew shared confidential stories his Southeast Asia journeys with Epstein throughout his tenure as Britain’s commerce envoy.
King Charles III issued a quick assertion: ‘Let me state clearly: the legislation should take its course.’
Lack of Royal Titles
By October 2025, Andrew relinquished his Duke of York title. King Charles then revoked his ‘Prince’ designation, ‘His Royal Highness’ fashion through Letters Patent, Order of the Garter, Royal Victorian Order, residence at Royal Lodge, and £1 million annual allowance. He now goes by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Wharfe’s Insights on Podcast
On the All of the sudden Single podcast, Wharfe explains his reluctance to remark earlier. ‘Ever for the reason that Epstein disaster that hit the Royal Household, I’ve taken a private stand on this,’ he states. ‘The entire subject of the Duke of York, as he was, and now Mountbatten-Windsor, is excruciatingly poisonous, and continues to be.’
Wharfe notes every day tales over the previous six months linking Andrew and Epstein, now implicating ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. Epstein information reveal emails from 2009 the place Ferguson requested £20,000 from Epstein for lease after her landlord threatened media publicity. She denies wrongdoing and divorced Andrew in 1996 however shared Royal Lodge with him till just lately.
‘It is a topic that, as but, isn’t completed,’ Wharfe provides. ‘It is solely simply begun, and who is aware of the place this may find yourself?’
Wharfe’s Royal Service
Wharfe guarded younger Princes William and Harry from 1986—they known as him ‘Uncle Ken’—earlier than serving Diana for practically six years as her shut confidant. He retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2002 after 35 years and acquired the Victorian Order from Queen Elizabeth II. He authored bestsellers Diana: Carefully Guarded Secret and Guarding Diana: Defending the Princess Across the World.
Affect on King Charles
Wharfe views Andrew’s troubles as compounding challenges for King Charles, who additionally navigates Prince Harry’s self-exile in America. ‘His father, the King himself, goes via a really troublesome interval of life attempting to type out his youthful brother’s issues,’ Wharfe says.
He regrets the lack of Harry in reshaping the monarchy: ‘William and Harry, notably, had been to be a part of the King’s future design of the monarchy. Sadly, he is misplaced that third—that Harry third—who I feel was an vital a part of restructuring the monarchy for the longer term.’
Views on Harry and Meghan
Wharfe displays on Prince Harry’s marriage to Meghan Markle as a missed alternative. ‘He was a prince of the realm, marrying a girl of blended heritage, an American, a divorcee,’ he recollects. ‘She had all of the qualities that, had you on condition that ten, 15 years in the past, there could be no probability of that ever taking place.’
But, ‘it by no means labored as a result of I feel Meghan by no means actually understood it. And I do not suppose Harry actually anticipated at the moment that, in some months later, he’d be disappearing to America, to stay a lifetime of exile, virtually.’
Wharfe helps potential safety restoration for Harry within the UK amid altering international threats. He believes Harry stays unsettled in Montecito, California, with Meghan and their kids: ‘I feel the enjoyable of these days in Montecito, and the movie star world that he moved in, has pale and left him considerably remoted.’
Nonetheless, Wharfe sees a future position: ‘Does he have a task to play in the way forward for the monarchy? I feel he does—fairly how he does that, I do not suppose he even is aware of but.’
