The astonishment was great when the Queen was led by her son Andrew to Westminster Abbey at the memorial service for Prince Philip at the end of March.

Crown Prince Charles and his son William are said to have expressed their astonishment several times afterwards, allegedly combined with the admission that they have little influence on the soon to be 96-year-old monarch in this family matter.

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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Only a few days after Andrews' appearance, who had recently gotten away with a case for the sexual abuse of a minor with money, another suspicion fell on Elisabeth's second child.

Has he tried to cash in on one of his own charity projects?

Beneficial relationships?

The issue was raised by an embezzlement trial in London in which Turkish millionaire Nebahat Evyap Isbilen is seeking around €45 million back from her former financial adviser Salman Turk.

Among other things, Turk diverted around 900,000 euros from her account for the prince - allegedly a wedding gift to Andrew's daughter Beatrice.

The sum, which has since been repaid, was remitted just nine days after a juicy performance by Turks and Andrews.

Turk - who has been on friendly terms with the prince for some time - was invited to Andrew's charity show Pitch@Palace at St James's Palace on November 6, 2019.

There, new entrepreneurs present their business ideas – in the hope of finding financiers and being declared the winner by the prince.

Turk, who presented his online bank, which has since gone bankrupt, was given the honor, although his presentation did not convince many.

Newspapers are now quoting those involved who say they were surprised at Turk's triumph at the time.

Pitch@Palace, Andrew's pet project, has been put on hold since sponsors withdrew following abuse allegations.

So far, the affair has no legal dimension, but it fits into a pattern.

With an amazing regularity, Andrew gets involved with shady businessmen and develops personal relationships from which he benefits financially.

Even after his former friend Jeffrey Epstein was convicted as a sex offender, he had money transferred to him to pay off debts.

According to newspaper reports, the prince gave the controversial businessman David Rowland royal access for money.

His position as the government's special trade representative (which has since been resigned) also led to dubious transactions.

So the prince sold his country home in Berkshire to the son-in-law of Kazakh autocrat Nursultan Nazarbayev – for £3million more than the agent had asked for.

Although Andrew no longer has a working role with the Royals (and lost most of his titles), he is not treated as a fallen son by the Queen.

Court reporters want to know that for months he has been trying to get close to his mother, who has always been said to be close to him.

In the area around Williams and Charles, it is said to be feared that Andrew wants to publicly rehabilitate himself by showing his closeness to the queen.

Many are now looking forward with excitement to June, when Elizabeth II celebrates her 70th jubilee on the throne.

Will Andrew, whom Charles and William would like to keep out of the public eye, reappear alongside them?