It is expected the disgraced ex-royal will have ‘little chance’ of making a public statement following daughter Princess Eugenie’s pregnancy announcement according to Katie Nicholl.
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Disgraced ex-royal Prince Andew is being "airbrushed out of key royal moments," according to a leading royal expert.
It comes as it is expected the 62-year-old will have "little chance" of issuing any form of public statement following the announcement his daughter, Princess Eugenie, is giving birth to her second child.
The late Queen’s granddaughter announced the news with a sweet family photograph of her son August kissing her bump. They are expecting the new addition to their family – a brother or sister for August – in the summer.
READ MORE: Prince Andrew plans to overturn sexual abuse settlement after alleged victim drops lawsuit
Katie Nicholl told GB news: “He has been airbrushed out of key family moments.
“If you think back to her sister Beatrice's wedding, there was no official picture of Andrew. I think the risk of bringing Andrew in any capacity, even a happy story like this a moment, is that it then reignites everything else that comes with the Andrew story.
“It's only been days since we had reports that he's going to challenge that settlement.
“From a human side of things, of course, if you've been accused of doing something you haven't, you want to fight back, I do understand that.
“For the image of the royal family, you're just saying we're on the eve of a coronation, to suddenly push all of this out into the public domain, my personal feeling is it can only be hugely damaging.”
She added in the interview with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster: “He said he would make himself available to the FBI that he was willing to be questioned, he laid everything out on the table, but that never happened.
“This just feels too late. He's used part of his inheritance from the Queen to pay off this settlement.
“I think he just needs to slip into the background quietly and to be honest, even if he were to go through all of these steps the idea that he's coming back into royal life, it's not going to happen.”
Ms Nicholl also said Prince Harry’s image was in contrast with Princess Eugenie: “I think she is a thoroughly fresh, modern, I'm going to say bit part royal, because she's not a full-time working Royal, but when she needs to step up to the occasion she does.
“She's doing what Charles has envisaged for members of the Royal Family that aren't in direct succession to the throne, having a career, having a family, having an ordinary life.
“They've announced that they're having a second baby – not a huge surprise, their little boy August has just turned two.
“He's also said in this interview that he is going to be an eco warrior, from the moment he celebrates his second birthday, she’s obviously got a genius for a child but she's ticking all the right boxes.
“I like the refreshing approach to royalty that he's doing, I think it's great.”
Meanwhile Ms Nicholl explained how public support for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the States following the publication of Prince Harry’s book has collapsed.
She said: “A Newsweek magazine poll, and this is an American magazine taking the temperature of Americans' feelings towards Harry and Meghan in the past month found support for Harry has dropped 45 points in the States, while Meghan's has dropped 36 points. And according to this survey, almost half of the Americans 44% said that Harry was wrong in his autobiography to be relaying private conversations with family members.
“I think you're getting the sense that even America where it's been very, very supportive of Harry and Meghan, the tide is now turning and perhaps they need to move on from these rows with directors and the Palace, rows over his autobiography and actually get on with what they said they were going to do in the States, which was some good philanthropic work.”
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