Prince Andrew

[SunsetBoulevard3]

I haven’t watched the interview, but heard reports of the content. I just find it unbelievable he claims he can’t remember meeting a woman he had his arm around! Despicable. Does anyone believe him?

Wouldn’t lady hale of the spider broach not be the perfect replacement for queen? She would be marvellous at keeping PMs in check

Is this the worst thing the monarchy has ever faced? Someone more knowledgeable will surely come along

Prince Andrew is clearly a lying twat. But why on earth are we blaming his mother? Seriously?

Makes them look horrible specially the Queen.
As someone in favor of abolishing the monarchy ive no problem conceding that the Queen has done her job, such as it is, very well. However, none of us know what she’s like as a person. What the public sees is the job, nothing else. Yes, from occasional news clips over the years we know she probably has a sharp sense of humor. But she could be lovely, she could be horrid. No one knows.

The current system is whoever is born to the role gets it. We the public have to accept whoever that may be character flaws and unsuitability notwithstanding. That’s why the system is so fundamentally flawed imo.

Yes obviously - but as long as the Royal Family quietly get on with things most people are prepared to put up with the current system. This interview has really put a spot light on all its flaws.

Technically his mother gives him an allowance from the sovereign grant which is taxpayer funded.
Cost of his security detail, a free house, Royal lodge at Windsor, also an apartment at Buckingham palace.

Millions and millions a year. He should be cut off and made an example of.

Is this the worst thing the monarchy has ever faced? Someone more knowledgeable will surely come along

No - Charles I came to quite a bad end.

@WineOrGinOrBoth I'm no expert but I think the issue is that they are now under more scrutiny that before. I dont doubt that members of the RF have behaved in similar ways to andrew before but they were given more leeway and more privacy whereas now they cant get away with it (well I mean they can, let's be frank fuck all will actually happen to him).

@merrymouse indeed it that was more of a constitutional crisis of monarchical power.

This is about child sex trafficking. Charles I's actions were divisive but it would be difficult to argue they were immoral.

@merrymouse sorry I should have clarified- in the last 200 years or so.

This is about child sex trafficking. Charles I's actions were divisive but it would be difficult to argue they were immoral.

I was speaking more in terms of consequences than actions.

However, I suspect that in previous centuries child sex trafficking was seen as less of a crime and more of a perk of the job.

@merrymouse sorry I should have clarified- in the last 200 years or so.

I think it's difficult to say because I don't think rape was taken seriously as a crime until very recently.

If you are thinking about royal scandals, abdication was quite bad.

PA has just behaved in a way privileged men have always behaved, and, frankly, still behave. It’s just his bad luck that #metoo has shone a bit of a spotlight on it.

@merrymouse yes that's what I meant i just didnt explain myself very well!

Catherine Howard was 16/17 when she married Henry 8. A rather obvious example but the first I can think of.

The latest article in The Guardian in which the Newsnight team say he was so pleased with how well the interview went in the immediate aftermath that he took them on a tour of the Palace is telling. The man is completely delusional. I suppose one saving grace is that surely the wedding for the other daughter who is meant to get married soon will be very low key.

I think the queen remains completely detached from the day to day activities of her family and only wades in as a last resort if she thinks the Monarchy's reputation is at risk. This is not a normal family by any stretch of the imagination or one that we should look up to and revere. I agree she's done a good job as a Monarch (as a parent - that's a different story) and when she passes on it will be time to do away with the whole nonsensical institution. William would probably be relieved.

if PA refuses to take responsibility for his actions then the Queen being the Queen and not his mother needs to step in and strip him of his title and stop funding his office .
Epstein association isn’t the only dodgy thing PA did, he was associated with so many questionable people while acting as Trade representative.

@WineOrGinOrBoth marriage at that age was fairly common tho - you can't really compare the 2

True

“ The man is completely delusional.”
But, I suspect, no more than many other men. Or women, for that matter, if you think about the way threads about porn and prostitution usually go on here....

As long as you can say 'NRPI', 'No real person involved' you just move on

BAU for the aristocracy of old and the "new aristocracy" of the super rich.

Man in the family gets the scullery maid pregnant? Get the butler to kick her out the slut.
Daughter of a key tenant farmer? Bailiff pays them off
Daughter of someone with some independence? Agent pays someone else to marry them.

The only person who actually matters being the man who is the Real Person. The Queen may or may not know the reality of what PA was up to but its foolish to think she would want him held to account when the women were of no importance.

@C8H10N4O2 Agreed. I am troubled by the idea that PA is uniquely awful.

@KnowMenClature

“GM was working for him too, and will have charges to answer, but she was not raping girls, or using them herself for her own sexual pleasure”

Virginia Walters has alledged she was sexually assaulted by Ghislaine. She seems to have been involved in a number of the “sessions”

I suspect whether she can be prosecuted for sexual assault herself depends on the laws regarding consent and female on female sex in the juristrictions these events have taken place in.

I imagine the authorities want to speak to her about the trafficking at the very least.

I knew a photographer who once said it was PA who was gay not Edward who everybody thought might be. That's why his marriage failed and because Fergie knows she's kept sweet.
I honestly don't know how true that was of course!!