Charles and William reportedly ‘instrumental’ in booting disgraced Prince Andrew

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The Royal Family unsheathed their daggers and plunged them straight into disgraced Prince Andrew like the vengeful passengers in Murder on the Orient Express.

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British media report that it was Prince Charles and Prince William who made the “ruthless and swift” decision to strip scandal-plagued Andrew of his titles and torpedo his cash flow in one fell swoop.

A palace insider told the Daily Mirror : “The Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge are completely aligned in their view that the Duke of York has presided over a complete and utter disaster.”

Andrew’s exile had been “widely discussed” within The Firm but after his latest legal setback on Wednesday, Charles and William advised Queen Elizabeth that the 61-year-old had to go.

On Wednesday, Andrew’s latest legal gambit to wiggle out of an underage sex lawsuit from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s former teen slaves was denied by a New York judge.

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Charles and William were “instrumental” in the power play, the Daily Mail reports.

“This is about the survival of the institution at all costs. Always has been and always will be,” a senior palace source told the tabloid.

The end came Thursday morning when the Duke of York was summoned to an emergency meeting with the Queen at Windsor Castle. Her majesty would not let her son’s lawyer, Gary Bloxsome, to accompany him to the sitdown.

The Mirror, quoting a source, said Prince Andrew is “shell-shocked.”

And then it was done. Adding to the humiliation was the Queen’s edict that Andrew was no longer to be addressed as “His Royal Highness.”

The source added: “It was a ruthless and swift decision which will have been recommended by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge and sanctioned by the Queen.”

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While Prince Andrew was said to be the Queen’s favourite child, she once again put duty first.

“She has the ability, when push comes to shove, to know what is best for the institution and will act in her role as head of state, not a mother,” said another source who knows her well.

“She loves Andrew and this doesn’t mean he is no longer her son. But a decision had to be made as it was overshadowing everything the family did and her forthcoming platinum jubilee.

“Everyone will be feeling very relieved he has finally been cut adrift. It may even help him to have more clarity in fighting the case.”

Prince Andrew was a longtime pal of pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his maniacal muse, Ghislaine Maxwell. Even after Epstein had served time for soliciting an underage prostitute in Florida, the ‘Puke of York’ maintained the friendship.

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He even went on BBC to defend his relationship with Epstein in what turned out to be a disastrous interview.

Now, he faces a civil jury trial in New York this fall over Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s claims he had sex with her when she was underage three times. He denies knowing Giuffre or any wrongdoing — the photo of himself, Giuffre and Maxwell notwithstanding.

Andrew’s $3,500-per-hour legal team tried to argue that the prince was covered by a $500,000 settlement that Epstein inked with Giuffre in 2009. The judge did not buy it.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Prince Andrew, as a private citizen, will now be expected to fund the legal battle with Giuffre out of his own pocket. To do that, he is selling his $30-million ski chalet in the Swiss Alps.

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Not only that, Andrew is expected to lose his 24-hour security detail.

One expert said that the prince will need to find as much as $17 million to pay off Giuffre and avoid a humiliating trial. According to Mark Stephens, Andrew has only “bad options.”

QUOTE: “Essentially, I think he’s either going to have to engage in the trial process or he’s going to have to settle and that may well be his least worst option.” — Mark Stephens

MEANWHILE …

Sex-trafficking socialite Maxwell has thrown in the towel on fighting to keep “vast swathes of information” about her “trafficking operation” with Epstein sealed. Giuffre had asked that files from her 2015 lawsuit against Epstein’s pimp be made public.

Maxwell was said to be determined not to rat out her rich and powerful pals who had sex with Epstein’s coterie of underage girls. The men in the files are eight “John Does” or “Non-Parties 17, 53, 54, 55, 56, 73, 93 and 151.”

Six of the no-doubt panicked pervs have objected to the files being unsealed. It is not clear if one of the men is Prince Andrew. One argued it would cause him “annoyance and embarrassment” while another moaned he was “‘trying to live a private life.”

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