Prince Andrew was left "tearful" after Charles, then Prince of Wales, told his younger brother he will never return to Royal duties, it is claimed tonight.
Duke of York, 62, had a tense meeting with Charles days before their mother's death, in which then Prince of Wales, 73, dashed Andrew's hopes of ever returning to the fold.
The third child of the Queen believes he could "still be of value" as a working member of the Royal Family despite his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Only Andrew and Charles were present for the discussions at Charles's Birkhall estate in Scotland, Mail on Sunday reports.
"Andrew was totally blindsided," a source told the publication. "He is utterly bereft. He always believed there was a way back.
"Andrew was extremely close to the Queen and tried to raise the issue of his return to public life many times with her."
The source described the meeting between the brothers as "emotional and fraught".
Duke of York will be absent from the Remembrance Day service at The Cenotaph – the first in 70 years without Queen Elizabeth II. Andrew no longer has a role to play the event in Whitehall as he was stripped of his official duties earlier this year.
Since then though, the dad has reportedly held ambitions of "regaining his position as a senior royal" while other members of the family thought the matter had been settled - there was no way back.
Charles, who has since acceded to the British throne, reportedly told his brother he'll have to "accept" the decision.
Andrew was stripped of his military affiliations and royal patronages in January after he lost his bid to quash a civil lawsuit in America brought by Jeffrey Epstein's former "sex slave" Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she had been forced to have sex with the Duke which he strenuously denied.
But the Duke settled the civil case in February for a reported £12 million without accepting liability and had believed this would allow him to return.
