CHAOS ON AIR: The Prince Andrew debate explodes on GMB as the row leaves presenter stunned

A furious row erupted on Good Morning Britain over whether King Charles should publicly denounce Prince Andrew. Ed Balls and Charlotte Hawkins were joined in the studio by former royal correspondent Simon McCoy, who is in favour of the king denouncing Andrew, and royal biographer Robert Hardman, who believes the royals should not have to respond.

Their appearance on the programme comes after King Charles was heckled during a visit to Lichfield Cathedral on Monday. A man questioned the king about Prince Andrew’s association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and whether he had asked the police to “cover up” for his brother.

Former BBC newsreader McCoy, 64, said the British public feel they are being treated “like fools” and claimed Prince Andrew is “doing nothing” to support the victims of sex trafficking.

He continued: “Prince Andrew paid 12 million pounds to Virginia Giuffre. We don’t know what for – a woman he says he never met. The story does not work, and the monarchy is facing an existential crisis unless the king does something.”

Hardman retorted that royals should not respond to headlines, noting that the late Queen never did.

The author went on to compare the situation to when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made several accusations to the monarchy after King Charles’ coronation.

Hardman said: “For about 12 weeks nonstop, you had Harry and his six-part Netflix series followed by his book Spare and all these interviews around it. There were these constant accusations being lobbed at the monarchy and the king didn’t respond because the monarchy is above that kind of stuff.”

A furious McCoy snapped: “You cannot compare Prince Harry and Andrew. We have Andrew who is wanted for questioning in America for help in investigating a very serious, global scandal. Don’t bring Harry into that league.”

“He hasn’t been accused of anything,” Hardman hit back. “I don’t understand what the king would be denouncing.”

Things turned heated as McCoy raged: “The country is looking at this and saying, ‘This is wrong.’ Prince Andrew, as you say, is a wrong’un, and yet the king is saying nothing. He’s said nothing about the victims. He’s said nothing to denounce Epstein and what went on.”

Hardman argued that the “problem” with the scandal surrounding Andrew is that no one knows where it is going next.

“If you had a final judgement, if there was some sort of settlement or something was finally resolved, then there would be something for the king to talk about,” the writer declared. “We’re discussing something that could change next week.”

When Ed pointed out that Prince Andrew has already had his titles stripped, McCoy raged: “He has not had anything done to him. He has voluntarily given up some titles.”

The former Sky News presenter admitted he would support legislation to strip Andrew of his remaining title because “the public wants that”.

Hardman snapped back: “I think that would be the wrong thing.”