Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor issued a desperate plea to Prince William during a tense conversation at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral, a lip reader has claimed.
Expert analysts have offered insights on a series of recent royal moments, including the gathering at Westminster Cathedral last September.
All the senior royals were present, including Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who both came to pay tribute to the wife of his late mother’s cousin, who died aged 92.
The former prince had a famously tense meeting with the Prince and Princess of Wales on the steps of the church after the service as they waited for their cars.
Now, in a Channel 5 TV series, forensic lip reader Nicola Hickling has claimed the ex-Duke of York used the moment to plead for his nephew’s forgiveness.
Andrew apparently asks William, who was joined by his wife Kate: ‘I’ve learnt from what I’ve done but before I forget, and if I can, I’d like to ask you if you can forgive?’
It came amid continued controversy over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, which led to his titles being stripped the following month and him being kicked out of his home at Royal Lodge.
Andrew was later arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, over claims he passed sensitive information to the paedophile while serving as UK trade envoy from 2001 to 2011.
He was released under investigation and has not been charged. Andrew has strenuously denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
It followed the release of the Epstein Files by the US Department of Justice in January, comprising three million documents related to the convicted sex offender.
Andrew’s apparently desperate plea came after he greeted the Prince and Princess of Wales at the funeral, saying: ‘Good afternoon, William and Catherine, how are you?’
Kate replies, ‘Good, thank you’, with lip reader Ms Hickling explaining: ‘At this point, William looks a little bit uneasy, before saying to Andrew, “What can I do for you?”‘
The former prince says, ‘We’re really closed in together’, before William gives what Ms Hickling called a ‘simple response’, of just, ‘Yes’.
According to the programme, after Andrew issues his plea, to which he gets no reply, and leaves the couple, Kate says: ‘He seemed very sorry.’
William replies, ‘Do you think I deserved that? Is that what you mean?’, before the princess repeats, ‘He seemed very sorry’.
The funeral was one of Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s last official public appearances for the Royal Family before the scandal over their links to Epstein exploded.
The documentary, called Lip-Reading The Royals: What Are They Really Saying?, also offered insights into a conversation the couple’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, had in a street in Mayfair, central London, after their father’s titles were stripped.
Beatrice starts by apparently saying, ‘We will ride the storm,’ before continuing, ‘I’m feeling angry but we must not add to it. You are going to need to be out of the country.
‘He isn’t going to play by the rules and we need to be out of the way, Eugenie.’
The insight comes after the Mail on Sunday reported this week that the siblings had been told they could not join the Royal Family at Ascot this year amid concerns about the unfolding scandal involving their parents’ ties to Epstein.
Sources told the newspaper the sisters, whose names appear several times in the Epstein Files, would not take their seats in the Royal Box at one of the key events of the summer season, nor could they join senior members of the family for the Royal Procession.
The move was said to have ‘completely blindsided’ the princesses, who are already reeling from the arrest of their father last month.
Indeed, they are regulars at Ascot, and were welcomed to Sandringham at Christmas last year after Buckingham Palace officials made clear the King did not want to punish his nieces for the sins of their parents.
But their new exile is said to be part of a wider decision to exclude the princesses from all public-facing events for the foreseeable future.
Lip readers also analysed the moment US President Donald Trump was greeted by William and Kate on his state visit last September.
He turns to the Princess of Wales as he exits the plane and says, ‘You are so beautiful… so beautiful’, at which her husband quickly changes the subject.
He says to the American premier, ‘This way,’ to which Trump responds, ‘OK.’
William tells the president, as they walk: ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to see inside Air Force One’, to which Trump says, ‘You can, let’s arrange it’.
Experts also investigated words by Charles at the Coronation, which showed that amid the grandeur and pageantry, there is a very human side to members of The Firm.
In one instance, the monarch, visibly overwhelmed by the events of the day on May 6, 2023, appeared exhausted as he left Westminster Abbey following the ceremony.
‘As Charles gets into the carriage, he lets out a sigh and then mutters, “f*** me”,’ said Ms Hickling.
‘And then very quickly Camilla responds, “frankly, I don’t want to hear that”.’
The exasperated expletive, said body language expert Adrianne Carter, showed ‘the royals being as human as you and I’.
‘He swears, he swears a lot, King Charles, doesn’t he,’ added royal analyst Cristo Foufas.
‘Because he’s the King, we see him as incredibly classy… and there he is, saying “f*** me” as he gets into the carriage, because it’s hard work!
‘Sits down after effing and jeffing after obviously feeling very, very worn out; and Camilla says, “I don’t want to hear that!”‘
A few moments later, however, Ms Hickling suggested it seemed like Camilla was trying to ‘diffuse the mood’ and appeared to tell Charles: ‘Perhaps we should run off somewhere… don’t wallow.’
To this, however, Charles reportedly quickly replied: ‘I don’t have to smile.’
The lip reader added the King, then seemingly ‘grumbled’ as he ‘sarcastically’ said: ‘Oh, we have to be happy and have manners, do we?’
In one final carriage exchange, Ms Hickling claimed, Camilla simply asked: ‘Are you alright?’ To this, Charles reportedly said: ‘No, not really.’
‘I am with the King on this,’ said former Royal Press Secretary Dickie Arbiter.
‘There was obviously an element of frustration. At the age of 75, you’re normally retired, but the monarchy doesn’t retire…
‘Fortunately, Camilla was with him and Camilla’s able to calm him down… He won’t go OTT in her presence.’
But it seems Charles’s frustrations were far from over. Speaking to the programme, forensic lip reader Khalil Anwar also detailed how the King was scared to move on the balcony, lest his two-kilogram crown fall down.
‘I’m not going to get too close, I don’t want my crown to topple over. Imagine that,’ he reportedly told Camilla. ‘I’m terrified of it falling off my head.’
But the Queen, meanwhile, seemed to have her own worries about her headpiece too, allegedly rushing the pageboys to help her as she said: ‘Quickly, quickly, I don’t want it to drop down there. Move it, move it.’
And Mr Anwar shared how the nerves could have been hitting the King and Queen long before the ceremony even kicked off.
Analysing Charles walking into the Abbey, the lip reader believes he was ‘nervously’ asking the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, questions.
‘What if something goes wrong?’ he asked. ‘That’s the moment I find bothersome. I hope I don’t get anything wrong.’
The Archbishop simply said: ‘Of course.’ To this, the King reiterated: ‘I bloody hope so.’
In other heart-warming family scenes, Mr Anwar offered insights from the Prince and Princess of Wales, who rode in a carriage with their children.
‘OK wave now, wave to everyone. We’re on TV, so be on your best behaviour,’ William reportedly told his family.
‘Everyone seems to be having a jolly time celebrating with us.’
Charles and Camilla’s coronation took place on May 6, 2023, with thousands braving the rainy weather to take to the streets to watch their procession in the Gold State Coach.
The deeply religious ceremony in Westminster Abbey was followed by a weekend of celebrations, including a pop concert at Windsor, where royals, including Prince George and Princess Charlotte, danced the night away.
Buckingham Palace finally dropped ‘consort’ from Camilla’s title, having cautiously let the idea of a new Queen settle into the public’s consciousness in the wake of Elizabeth II’s death.
In the defining moment, St Edward’s Crown was lowered onto the King’s head by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Camilla was also anointed and crowned with Queen Mary’s Crown – a move unthinkable in the 1990s when she was derided for being Charles’s mistress.
The Coronation brought together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple.
