Does King Charles Want Harry and Meghan Evicted to Make Room for…Prince Andrew?

A scandal emerges at Frogmore Cottage.

"Hello, I've come to take your house."Andrew Milligan/AP

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On the eve of his coronation, King Charles faces an apparent predicament: What ever to do with Prince Andrew, the disgraced brother accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl, who can no longer afford his massive estate? And what about the estranged son intent on publicly speaking out against the family’s alleged cruelty?

Does one, in keeping with efforts to rehabilitate his reputation as something of a cold buffoon, attempt to settle the separate matters with some decency intact? Or is Charles hoping to offer more evidence of the familial brutality Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have warned us about?

Well, according to multiple reports, it appears as though the king is going for the latter. British tabloids are in a frenzy over Charles’ decision to evict his son and daughter-in-law from Frogmore Cottage—the couple’s only residence in the United Kingdom and a gift from the late queen—and install his brother in their place. From there, Andrew will presumably continue to wither away in ignominy, significantly less rich, and stripped of his royal patronages and military titles.

Now, getting kicked out and replaced with the worst member of the band, the queen’s favorite boy who befriended Jeffrey Epstein, is clearly designed to insult Harry. But Andrew is reportedly pissed too. That’s because, as BBC reports, Andrews’ current home is a 31-bedroom mansion while Frogmore Cottage can only boast ten. Them’s the breaks, I guess. But Andrew should cheer up. After all, downsizing is preferable to federal prison, where his former friend, the convicted sex trafficker Ghislane Maxwell, is currently serving a 20-year sentence.

Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on the private matter. But as your resident monarchy-in-shambles correspondent, I’ll fill in the silence to say: It sure seems like Harry and Meghan were right about their mean family! Now read our investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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