Shortly after 10am on Thursday, I arrived at my local High Street bank having just heard the news and, unable to stop myself, I shouted: 'Prince Andrew has been arrested!'
I swear every person in there - from the security guards to tellers, pensioners taking out a tenner, the local florist and smartly dressed businessmen - reacted with a cheer.
It felt as if with the arrest of the shamed ex-Prince on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the festering sore at the heart of the Royal family was finally being lanced. And people were glad of it.
As he prepared to deal with the worst crisis to have hit the Royals in living memory, King Charles issued a perfectly poised statement that must have been extremely painful for him, distancing himself from his brother and stating that 'the law must take its course'.
But where was William in all of this? All we know is that he and Princess Catherine 'approved of' the King's statement. Why haven't we heard more from them?
We learn that behind the scenes, William is Andrew's fiercest critic in the royal family. That he rightly feels both the late Queen and his father indulged his awful uncle for far too long.
Back in 2022, he even gave the Queen an ultimatum telling her that he would not attend an Order of the Garter Ceremony at Windsor if Andrew was there, as he intended to be.
And the Queen backed down, telling Andrew, her favourite son, he would not be able to attend the public elements of the ceremony.
William is Andrew's most fierce critic in the royal family, but why haven't we heard from him yet? asks Amanda Platell
King Charles, aged 77, performed 533 official engagements in 2025 while his hand-wringing son William, 43, did just 202
So the steel is there. As is the fury. Which he could not contain when Andrew sidled up to him at the Duchess of Kent's funeral on the steps of Westminster Cathedral.
His face seemed contorted with anger.
So why are we not hearing more from him now? Is it because he is the most reluctant King-in-waiting we've ever had?
Instead of addressing the issue in public, he chose to do a BBC interview on men's mental health, alongside Professor Green, a rapper and singer-songwriter.
All very worthy and an important subject. But it sounded self-indulgent. The headline was 'William Gets Candid' and he talked about his own mental health struggles as a first responder when he was a pilot for the air ambulance service dating back to 2015.
For one thing, given the way Andrew's friend Jeffrey Epstein abused and trafficked girls, women's mental health would have been the more timely topic.
And surely he should be tackling the matter of the moment, the unprecedented threat to the Monarchy presented by the Andrew crisis. William is its future and he should be out and about, front and centre, reminding us of the undoubted benefits of the royals, trying to ensure the Firm's survival. Not whingeing on about how he was 'carrying everyone else's emotional baggage' and it was 'really weighing me down', and he needed time out to recover.
Willliam and Kate do pitifully few royal appearances, claiming they prioritise the 'impact' of royal engagements over the 'volume'. But that won't wash.
King Charles, aged 77, performed 533 official engagements in 2025 while battling cancer, while his hand-wringing son William, 43, did just 202.
When Charles was Prince of Wales as William is now, he conducted over 530 royal engagements every year, including 100 visits to foreign countries when he too had a young family, and when William and Harry were grieving after their mother Diana’s death.
Of course we have the utmost compassion for Kate and for William during her cancer treatment. We understand why he took time out from royal duties.
But the way he and Kate moved to their new Forest Lodge 'forever home' buried deep in Great Windsor Park in 150 acres of a fenced-off, no-go zone gives the impression they want to to distance themselves as far as possible from the rigours and demands of royal life.
It is time for William to man up and front up. Does he want the top job or doesn't he? Does he want the Royals to carry on or not?
There is no doubt that Andrew is potentially a mortal threat to the monarchy, but if William really is as reluctant to become King as he appears to be, it could be that he'll become the problem, and not just the Andrew.