At least one recent royal mystery may be solved, according to new reports that suggest the mysterious tip that sent royal media running to Royal Lodge in anticipation of an announcement that was then abruptly cancelled could have been about a planned confrontation between King Charles and Prince Andrew.
This revelation comes courtesy of British journalist Emily Maitlis—who famously interviewed Prince Andrew when he sat down with BBC’s Newsnight in 2019—who discussed the situation and offered new insights about what was really going on behind-the-scenes during the Monday, October 27, episode of “The News Agents” podcast.
During the episode, Maitlis explained that members of the U.K. media were tipped off last week that the King was planning to make a trip to Royal Lodge after his visit to The Vatican. Apparently, the media who had been tipped off were intended to see that Charles was visiting his disgraced brother in person to read him "the act."
"What we learned what was going to happen on Thursday was that Charles, fresh from the Vatican and his audience with the Pope, was going to come via Royal Lodge to be seen in other words, reading the riot act to his brother," Maitlis explained (per The Mirror).
She added that the plan for the moment was never to have the media on site witness the actual confrontation, but the purpose of the meeting would have seemingly been clear enough.
"Nobody was going to film the conversation or see him stepping out the car but there was going to be the moment caught on camera of King Charles's car heading to Royal Lodge," Maitlis explained.
Ultimately, it seems the tip spread too quickly and widely and by the time Charles was en route to Royal Lodge, the media presence was just too large to go forward with the moment as planned.
"What happened, I understand, was that the Palace then got very nervous," Maitlis claimed. "And when they saw the choppers and helicopters, they thought this has all got too big, this has got out of control, they cancelled the whole thing. The King just went straight home and never came by."
The planned media moment made headlines last week when the large gaggle of press assembled at Royal Lodge were abruptly sent home and told no announcement was happening, in spite of previous indications to the contrary.
According to the Daily Mail, the rumor apparently started when "senior BBC journalists were allegedly briefed on Thursday evening that 'something significant' was expected to happen at the Prince's Royal Lodge home."
