Prince Andrew at the funeral of the duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral, London, September 16, 2025. VICTORIA JONES/SHUTTERSTOCK/SIPA
The funeral mass for the duchess of Kent, a cousin by marriage to Queen Elizabeth II, had just ended on September 16 at Westminster Cathedral – not to be confused with the nearby Westminster Abbey. One by one, members of the British royal family left the neo-Byzantine building, squinting in the sunlight. King Charles III, his sister Anne, his eldest son William, William's wife Catherine... With the exception of Queen Camilla, who was ill, and Prince Harry, Charles's younger son exiled in California, the Windsor family was present in full.
Even Andrew, Charles's younger brother, made the trip, accompanied by his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. Yet for years, the slightly overweight man with a piercing gaze, now 65, had been excluded from the acting royals due to his past closeness to the American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
That day, however, dressed in a morning coat and the mandatory black tie, the former playboy, who still had not accepted his relegation, managed to make his way to William on the cathedral steps and tried to strike up a conversation. His nephew pointedly ignored him. He would not engage with an uncle whose presence had become toxic.
