Prince William has been warned he risks "further hurting" his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie as he grapples with how to handle their father, Prince Andrew, by a veteran royal commentator.
The Duke of York and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, are facing renewed public scrutiny on their relationship with the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Questions hang in the air over how King Charles intends to deal with his wayward brother, who has already been exiled from most aspects of royal life.
Since his disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview, the duke has been stripped of his HRH title, lost his military ranks and is kept away from public-facing events.
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However, recent developments have heaped further scrutiny on Andrew, which royal commentator Jennie Bond suggested may prompt the Royal Family to act.
"I think things have reached such a state now, with the latest excerpts from Virginia Giuffre’s book, that the public wants another show of punishment for Andrew," she said.
She was referring to excerpts from the late accuser of the duke’s upcoming memoir, seen by the press, which contained lurid new details about their alleged encounter.
To that end, Ms Bond feared the continuing controversy surrounding risked "tainting the monarchy and all the good work it does".
Prince William and King Charles are said to be in a 'quandry' about the Prince Andrew
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"Something has to be done," she told The Mirror.
However, the former BBC royal correspondent added that King Charles was a man of "harmony" who may feel squeamish about further punishing his younger brother.
For that reason, Ms Bond suggested that it may now fall to Prince William to "wield the axe".
She reckoned that the Prince of Wales would be "stubborn and determined" to draw a hard line on Andrew.
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Ms Bond ackonleged William risked 'hurting' his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie in how he deals with Andrew
|That being said, Ms Bond also felt William would face a "quandary" of his own regarding the future of the Duke of York.
She noted that the Prince of Wales "does not have a heart of steel" and would therefore have some sympathy for Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie.
"William is very fond of his cousins...who adore their parents, in spite of everything that has happened," she told The i paper.
"Banishing or humiliating Andrew and Fergie would cause the sisters further hurt," she explained.
The Duke of York has been facing further scrutiny after a series of bruising disclosures recently
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"That’s a tough nut for William to crack," Ms Bond concluded.
As well as Virginia Giuffre’s upcoming memoir, the Duke of York was also hit by another bruising development over the weekend.
In leaked correspondence dated February 28, 2011, Andrew appeared to have contacted Jeffrey Epstein via email.
The exchange occurred the day following publication of a photograph showing the duke with his arm around Ms Giuffre at Ghislaine Maxwell's London residence.
In the message, Andrew stated they were "in this together" and would need to "rise above it", suggesting ongoing contact between the pair.
The emails cast fresh doubt over the duke's previous public statements regarding the timeline of his association with Epstein.
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