Prince Andrew's bid for return to public life after Jeffrey Epstein scandal is ... trends now

Prince Andrew’s attempts to restore his reputation with an eye on returning to public life are ‘wishful thinking’.

While the King respects his brother has a right to try and clear his name, any hopes this will pave the way back to official duties and a frontline royal role are ‘way off the mark’, a well-placed source told the Mail.

‘That is very much not the King’s thinking,’ they said.

King Charles finds himself in a tricky position but knows that he must act as a monarch, not as a brother.

The source said that the issue is about ‘so much more’ than Andrew’s US out-of-court settlement with Virginia Roberts over allegations of rape and sexual assault, which he has always denied.

There is frustration in some parts of the Royal Household that the beleaguered prince and his advisers – who have recently launched a media blitz to try and turn the tide of public opinion – fail to understand this fact.

‘The decisions that were made previously about his position within the Royal Family are also about his professional judgment and his personal associations,’ the source said.

The King is backed by his son and heir, the Prince of Wales.

William also firmly believes that the decisions made by his late grandmother to strip her so-called favourite son of his official duties and associations were the right ones. The late Queen also stripped Andrew of the right to use his HRH title in public, so that he could fight the case as a ‘private citizen’.

Ms Roberts, now 39 and known by her married name Virginia Giuffre, claimed she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17, after she was trafficked by convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew, 62, denied the accusation but paid a reported £12million out-of-court settlement to get Ms Roberts to drop the civil claim in the US.