Prince William sees Prince Andrew as a 'threat' to the royal family, according to sources

• Prince Andrew is a "threat" to the royal family in the eyes of Prince William, The Times reported.
• The Duke of Cambridge is "no fan" of his uncle, according to a source.

The Duke of York is a "threat" to the royal family in the eyes of the Duke of Cambridge, according to reports by the Times of London.

A source told the newspaper that Prince William is "no fan" of his uncle.

Prince Andrew was forced to step back from public duties in 2019 following crisis talks around his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and has been lying low since - he was not in the official photographs of his daughter Princess Beatrice's 2020 wedding, and didn't return from Scotland when her first child was born on September 18 2021.

In August 2021, Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's accusers, filed a lawsuit against the duke accusing him of sexually assaulting her in the early 2000s, when she was 17 years old, Insider's Michelle Mark reported. She had first made the claim in 2015.

In a July 2020 statement to Insider, Prince Andrew's representatives "categorically" denied "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors."

Despite reportedly being keen to come back to royal life, experts say the duke may have caused lasting damage to the monarchy.

"This drip, drip, drip not only involves Andrew but, because he is the Queen's second son, also engages the whole royal family, tarnishes their image and, by implication, Britain's image too," historian Tessa Dunlop told the Times.

A palace aide told the newspaper that the royal family is "not currently planning any future rebranding of his role."

Prince William, who was involved in the crisis talks about Andrew's role between the Queen, Prince Charles, and himself in 2019, reportedly agrees with the decision.

"William is no fan of Uncle Andrew," a friend of the Duke of Cambridge said, according to the Times.

Andrew's "ungracious and ungrateful" attitude towards his position is a sticking point for William, a source told the newspaper, and for this reason, he considers his uncle to be "a risk" and "threat to the family."

"Any suggestion that there isn't gratitude for the institution, anything that could lead anyone in the public to think that senior members of the royal family aren't grateful for their position, [William thinks] is really dangerous," the source told the Times.

Prince Andrew has been described as "a self-important bore," "a total dickhead, an arrogant shit," "a total diva," and "deeply unpleasant" by sources in the Times' article.

However, the Queen is allowing Andrew to keep his honorary military title as the colonel of the Grenadier Guards regiment of the British Army, Insider's Mikhaila Friel reported.

Meanwhile, Prince Harry had to give up his military titles after the one-year review period of his "step back" from royal life came to an end.

Neither Kensington Palace nor the Duke of York's office immediately responded to Insider's request for further comment.