Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his brother King Charles (Image: AFP via Getty)

He’s never been convicted of any crime, but when Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles, most of the nation agreed it was the right thing to do. In a car crash Newsnight interview, he strenuously denied meeting the late Virginia Giuffre. He also claimed he medically can’t sweat, although he probably was sweating by the time Emily Maitlis had finished.

In 2022, Andrew and Ms Guiffre reached a multi-million-pound out-of-court settlement, where he accepted it’s “known Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls”, and said he “regrets his association with Epstein”. Last October, he agreed to stop using his titles, and he was Prince Andrew, the Duke of York no more. Most would say it was karma in action – the scales were balanced.

But bizarrely, there is a vocal, loyal minority who claim Randy Andy’s exile has gone too far – royal fans who have branded his ostracism a “medieval witch-hunt”.

Andrew’s public support has plummeted, with a YouGov report last October finding that 91% of Brits have a negative view of him. But it’s suggested that the 4% who continue to admire him have become a vocal online community.

“What’s happening at the moment is simply too much,” one contributor wrote on Theroyalforums.com. “It’s like a medieval witch-hunt.”

Andrew is no longer the Duke of York (Image: AFP via Getty)

“I think some people won’t think anyone has done enough until he’s been rendered homeless, broke, in prison, formally stripped of literally anything,” another said. “Nothing will probably ever be good enough.”

A Mumsnet user also chimed in: “He’s convicted of no crime, but he’s so loathed and despised people won’t be satisfied until he’s in the gutter somewhere. There’s no satisfying this baying mob.”

Others have pointed out his past military heroics, which admittedly were genuine, in the Falklands War. Others will have sympathy too for Sarah Ferguson’s stunning fall from grace.

And this could be a right royal headache for King Charles, who has a natural sympathy for their depressing plight.

His greatest wish is for the echoes of the 2025 “annus horribilis” to ebb and Andrew and Sarah Ferguson to slip into obscurity. The Epstein scandal tainted the image of the Royal Family across the world.

Sarah Ferguson has also lost her titles (Image: AFP via Getty)

The last thing King Charles needs is a vocal groundswell of fans demanding – out of respect for his war service, for example – the gentle return, say, of one of Andrew’s minor military honours.

An emboldened Andrew, with the skin of a rhino, might then start to demand to appear at the Cenotaph with other royals, or at the odd Windsor function or two. And then what?

Andrew might start to consider: “Maybe if I have supporters, I also have potential customers? Perhaps the world would like to buy the book telling my side of the story?

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“I could appear on the odd US chat show or two? Share those details about Charles and Diana’s marriage? I’m sure people will be fascinated by a warts-and-all autobiography.”

So we may not see those who speak out for Andrew as a threat to the new Royal Family order – but I bet quietly, King Charles does.