Channel 4 controversially aired ‘Prince Andrew: The Musical’ again in 2022 – however how does it maintain up now Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has been stripped of his titles…

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has continuously been within the headlines since being wrapped up within the Jeffery Epstein scandal. Most not too long ago, Andrew has been stripped of his royal titles and is being turfed out of his plush dwellings.

The former prince’s fall from grace was powered by his hyperlinks to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew,65, was accused of getting sexual relations with a then 17 yr outdated Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre claimed that she was trafficked by businessman Epstein and circulated amongst his buddies for intercourse.

Andrew has vehemently denied all allegations introduced towards him. Nevertheless, that did not cease a musical from being aired on Channel 4 the place they poked ‘enjoyable’ on the former Prince and his controversies.

‘Prince Andrew: The Musical’ was first proven on screens again in December 2022, with followers of the broadcaster majorly divided on the present.

Nevertheless, how does it maintain up now? Right here, Frankie Collins, reporter from the Categorical, particulars her first viewing of ‘Prince Andrew: The Musical’ and was left shocked at one factor particularly.

I sat down anticipating Channel 4’s Prince Andrew: The Musical to be outrageous, irreverent and a bit unhinged — however even with the bar already low, one second genuinely floored me. I can deal with satire. I can deal with royals being mocked, skewered and torn aside — particularly Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who has given the nation greater than sufficient uncooked materials. However I wasn’t ready for the second the musical burst right into a full-blown, upbeat tune about Jeffrey Epstein.

That was the purpose the place I ended laughing. As a result of whereas Andrew himself is honest sport, turning Epstein right into a comedy hook felt like a tone-deaf leap into territory that ought to by no means be performed for laughs. Even The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan identified the identical factor on the time: the Epstein scandal is “performed for laughs in a method that isn’t OK.” She was proper — and watching it now, with Andrew stripped of his HRH and utilizing the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, it lands much more uncomfortably.

The present retraces Andrew’s fall with brutal precision, flicking from his disastrous Newsnight interview to his friendship with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

However the second the forged began cheerfully singing “A Completely different Form of Obligation” — a quantity constructed round Andrew being launched to Epstein — it grew to become unattainable to disregard how grotesque the real-life context is.

Musical satire has limits, and that felt like one we shouldn’t be leaping over. What made it much more surreal is that the musical is definitely excellent at exposing Andrew’s delusion.

One early quantity sees him and Emily Maitlis each believing they “nailed” the Newsnight interview, which is humorous solely as a result of we all know what adopted: titles gone, patronages gone, status gone.

Seeing that recreated now — figuring out the person is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as a result of he now not has the fitting to make use of HRH — feels sharper, extra brutal, and extra revealing than it did in 2022.

However the wildest second of all got here proper close to the tip, when Andrew launches into “You’re All the time Gonna Want an Andrew,” insisting the Royal Household should maintain him round as a everlasting scapegoat.

It’s performed for comedy, however the sting is actual: the joke works as a result of you possibly can completely think about him considering it.

What struck me most is how the musical exposes the sheer delusion working via Andrew’s story. The jokes aren’t exaggerated — they’re pulled from issues he genuinely stated or believed.

And seeing that performed out via tune solely widens the hole between the person he thinks he’s and the truth the remainder of us can see.

Satire ought to problem, provoke and entertain — nevertheless it also needs to perceive the place the road is. And for me, the gleeful musicalisation of the Epstein chapter crossed it.

Mocking Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is one factor. However the Epstein scandal isn’t a joke — it’s too horrific, too painful, and much too actual for musical theatre remedy. That was the second Channel 4’s sharpest royal roast crossed a line.