Prince Philip had a ‘strained’ talk with Prince Charles over Prince Andrew and the monarchy’s future, insider reveals
PRINCE Charles decisively removed Prince Andrew from royal duties only after consulting Prince Philip - but the talks were “very strained” the Sun has been told.
When Prince Charles returned from his six-day tour of New Zealand last month, he went straight to Sandringham to speak to his father due to his “increasing alarm” over Andrew’s disastrous Newsnight interview.
Charles, 71, went to see Philip, 98, at Wood Farm, a bolthole on the Sandringham estate, for advice on how to repair the damage to the family ‘brand'.
It had been reported that Charles was planning to stay with his father for at least two days while they worked out how to resolve the Andrew "problem".
But a senior source tells the Sun that their discussions were “voluble, forthright and very, very tricky.”
Talks only lasted for a few hours, before Charles left for his Gloucestershire residence, Highgrove.
Prince Philip used to exert strong discipline on the way the “firm” was run.
It has been claimed many courtiers feel that the behaviour of some younger royals has become increasingly lax since the Queen’s husband retired from public life.
He would, they observe, never have sanctioned Prince Andrew’s wish to “clear the air” with a BBC interview.
Adds the source: “Charles deferred to his father by going to see him for advice, but that doesn’t mean their talks went smoothly.
“Anything but, because fundamentally they both have different views about the future of the royal family.”
Philip allegedly doesn't support Charles' plans to modernise the monarchy - which his father believes are 'harmful' and the source says they continue to have a strained relationship with each other.
It is claimed that he has found his son to be "too political and cerebral to come a successful sovereign.”
They are said to have clashed on Charles's vision of a slimmed-down Royal Family which he wants to eventually be independent of taxpayers' support, and has called his son 'wilful and petulant.’
He was particularly scathing over Charles's plan - which he is said to intend to implement early in his reign - to turn Buckingham Palace into a ‘space for the nation’, while he relocates the sovereign's base to Windsor Castle.
The Queen and Philip are both reportedly not fond of the palace and even planned to abandon it at the start of her reign.
However, Winston Churchill vetoed the idea and insisted that the monarch’s place was at the palace.
Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of the UK’s sovereign since 1837 and is the Queen’s administrative headquarters.
The 775-room palace, which includes 19 State rooms and 52 royal and guest bedrooms, has been the site of numerous royal and national celebrations, including the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee.
According to royal author Catherine Mayer, Prince Philip "actively opposed" Prince Charles' plan for the monarchy because he wants to change the setup.
"The Queen and Philip had very strong ideas about how you do monarchy and Prince Charles comes along and starts doing things very differently," she wrote.
Royal author Tom Bower claimed in his book, The Power, Passion And Defiance of Prince Charles, that both the Queen and Prince Philip doubt Charles’s leadership skills.
In fact, said Bower, Philip reportedly joked that they wanted to live for a long time so their eldest son would "have little opportunity to damage the monarchy."
Buckingham Palace has has been contacted for comment.
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