King ‘should evict Andrew’s teddy bears’ in new low for former Duke

The former Duke of York is known to be very attached to his teddy bears and, in threatening their removal, Charles III would step up his efforts to coerce him out of the Royal Lodge.

Andrew, now humbly Mr Mountbatten Windsor without his royal titles, will likely spend Christmas in the Windsor mansion for the last time this year before his exile to Sandringham.

He has already been dealt the indignity of being snubbed by his daughter Princess Beatrice this week and being the butt of the UK’s Christmas Cracker Joke of the Year.

While he is said to do little more to fill his days than watch television, Andrew is said to be reluctant to move on from the Royal Lodge, his home since the early 2000s.

But Charles might be targeting the teddies to speed up the vacation and move on from the affair as the royal family begin a new year.

"King Charles has one option left to get Andrew out of Royal Lodge and it might make him cry,” royal reporter Chris Riches said in the Express.

The source, which cannot be verified by LBC, is said to have added that the King might hire a mover to pack up the soft toys.

“Andrew is somewhat obsessed with teddy bears,” the tongue-in-cheek piece added.

“It's even been recently reported that he's currently so lonely he's taken to chatting to the plush toys as if they were close friends."

There have been no concrete reports from the palace that any action like this would be considered and the piece was printed in jest but there is no doubting his love of a teddy bear.

Paul Page, a former Buckingham Palace security officer, told 60 Minutes Australia that Andrew was very specific about where his toys should be placed around his room.

“Nobody should have to put teddy bears back on a bed using a laminated card for instructions,” he said. “And if they got it wrong they would get shouted and screamed at.

“Every weekend the Royal Family went to Windsor, we’d go into their apartments and check their alarms. So we had to go in and we saw all the teddy bears on the bed… There were about 50 to 60 of them with a laminated card of where to put them.” He added that a maid came forward later and said that it was 72 teddy bears.

Andrew was initially removed from royal duties following a car crash interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019, which was broadcast shortly after the death of his former friend Jeffrey Epstein.

The prince has denied that he was sexually involved with any woman who convicted sex offender Epstein introduced him to.

He has denied allegations brought by the late Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, that he had three sexual encounters with her.

Andrew settled out of court with her in 2022, but said this was not indicative of any wrongdoing or suggestive of guilt.

This year he has been stripped of all his titles, but continues to deny any accusations.