Prince Andrew’s latest, leaked missive suggests that the favourite son of Queen Elizabeth II is amoral, egotistical, and, like his ex-wife, a liar. The day after the photo of the good-time Prince, with a young, smiling Virginia Roberts (later Giuffre) and Ghislaine Maxwell, was published, Andrew allegedly wrote this email to Jeffrey Epstein: “Seems we’re in this together. Let’s play again soon!!! A, HRH The Duke of York, KG.” Andrew’s outrages come and go, but he is still His Royal Highness, Knight of the Garter.
The email published by the Mail on Sunday has sent more shockwaves through the nation. The patrician historian A N Wilson declares it “a major crisis for the monarchy… perhaps the gravest since the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936”. Royal correspondents are busily soothing royalists. And I am having seditious thoughts.
I now think the rogue Prince is a useful foil for the King and rest of the Windsors. Those same, tired speculations about his income, role, house and ex-wife serve to distract subjects from the many other scandals in that family, which come, shock and mysteriously evaporate.
Here are some of the most recent examples.
Michael Fawcett, the King’s former trusted aide and confidante, was surreptitiously “welcomed back into the King’s charmed circle again” earlier this year, according to the Mail on Sunday. There has been no public disquiet about that. In 2018, Fawcett was the CEO of what was then the Prince’s Foundation. An independent investigation in 2021 found he had co-ordinated with “fixers” over honours nominations for the Saudi billionaire Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz. Fawcett resigned following the allegations. The Metropolitan Police dropped an investigation into the charity in 2023.
Norman Baker, the former Liberal Democrat minister, rightly, in my view, suspected that “no action is being taken because of the nature of the potential offender, rather than a proper assessment of the potential crime”. If this had been Andrew, trust me, there would have been a swell of disapproval.
Next problem. Last November, a joint Sunday Times and Dispatches investigation revealed staggering examples of royal greed and exploitation. The King’s Duchy of Lancaster and Prince William’s Duchy of Cornwall extracted substantial amounts of money from the Armed Forces, schools, prisons and fire and ambulance services.
The King’s Duchy estate, for example, was making £829,000 a year renting one warehouse to an NHS trust for housing ambulances – a social necessity. The Mirror found rental properties in the Duchy of Cornwall were damp, mouldy and didn’t meet minimum legal energy efficiency standards. The duchies have denied any wrongdoing.
What did the owners know? And what has been done to put things right? Those questions will keep on hanging in the air. And life moves on. But grubby stories keep on coming.
This summer, The Sunday Times reported an exodus of gardeners from King Charles’s Highgrove estate, following complaints over unmanageable workloads, low pay and demoralising comments from the King.
Richard Kay of the Mail, a royal acolyte, added some spin: “Of course, stories about Charles as a demanding, pernickety fusspot – together with a lavish, pampered lifestyle – are not new. Over the decades, his relentless pace led to a high turnover of senior advisers whom he exhausted with round-the-clock demands… while he is a much calmer person thanks to a happier second marriage, some things haven’t changed. He can still be testy.” The King and all those on the Civil List should be subject to the same laws as other employers. But it seems they are not. Where is the outrage?
square JENNIE BOND Epstein's pal Prince Andrew should fear the day William becomes king
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Lets go back to the 2023 coronation. Millions of Britons were barely able to eat properly, or heat their homes as the cost of living bit into their lives, and our state squandered £72m on the spectacle. Camilla even had her dogs embroidered on to her dress. Such profligacy in such hard times, and no accountability.
Now to charities with royal patronages. Andrew’s departure from 64 charities after withdrawing from royal duties had no effect on their income overall, according to a report, with many seeing an increase after he stepped down as a patron.
A royal can, they learn, be as flawed and dubious as us mere mortals. Andrew shows the dangers of inherited superiority as well as subservience. Henceforth charities must carry out due diligence when choosing a Windsor to varnish their brand, and encourage open discussions about whether those chosen represent the most or least worthy people in our society.
A final point: the Budget looms and taxes need to be raised. Labour could upend the existing royal tax arrangements and get the King – among the richest 100 people in the UK – and his family to pay corporation and capital gains taxes. That won’t happen. Their hold over us is unchallengeable.
The royals resist change, because, observes Norman Baker: “They’re arrogant. They think they can get away with it and they think they have an entitlement, and they carry on regardless. They sail on.” Andrew is not the biggest problem. The monarch, his family and allies and the system are.
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