Prince Andrew sued by Virginia Roberts ll

[Blossomtoes]

Continued from previous thread

I feel sorry for her becuase if we look at the proposed slimmed down monarchy she will be the least senior and a married in.

She works hard and has really redeemed herself since the fake sheikh.

However there is always a whipping boy within the royal family for the media. I think she and her children could be the new candidates - not because they will do anything wrong, but because that is the nature of rota reporting. It's sad because she is too old to step back and reinvent herself, she has served her time and it is cruel.
Media / PR spin can be powerful, we all know that.

Maybe I will be wrong and the slimmed down monarchy will have a new relationship with the media.

He's not in a position to bargain but the Q is keen for him not to lose that position. Even she will probably have to concede on this one.

@nottodaybatman

I agree that there are people making money out of talking about H&M. There's no doubt about the seriousness of the allegations about Andrew.

My question was specifically about the allegations that articles on H&M are published in order to distract from the situation with Andrew.

The BBC have been reporting about it (here's a recent example). If you compare news sources you know that the BBC are often slower to report certain things where further research is involved.

I was expecting to learn about a new development in the Andrew case based on comments in another thread. There's nothing I can see to support the 'distraction' theory.

there is always a whipping boy within the royal family for the media

Not in my lifetime. The media reports when they misbehave. There was plenty of fodder in the 90s and they all got a pasting.

The first decade of this century was a quiet period with plenty of good news - notably the diamond jubilee and the Cambridge’s wedding - and the coverage was overwhelmingly positive. The last three or four years have been completely bonkers.

It's an observation Eyebrows.

We currently have PA and RF knee deep in a terrible court case and story.

H&M are thousands of miles away and haven't said a peep for a while. There are no photos nothing "new" to discuss. Yet suddenly a source has leaked the Q is outraged that H&M have said or will say something and so she is going to take legal action. It is weird and very odd timing.

Also I don't want to repeat myself but earlier in this thread I did talk about how the royal reporters choose to hype up certain stories and ignore others. Not just H&M related. The point I made was the rota move as a pack in terms of editorial approach and they have freely admitted that palace courtiers contact them with ideas for stories.

Why would a palace source contact the media this weekend to discuss a potential legal action for an unpublished book? What purpose would it serve?

We then have the context of a lethargic response (compared to H&M) to PA, some tasteful victim blaming prior to that.

Like I said it is just an observation that is being noted by our own media not just me.

@Blossomtoes

Wild Margaret to steady to dutiful Elizabeth
Fergie the fat ugly duckling to the beautiful Diana
Sensible handsome William to wild stupid Harry
Lovely Kate, conniving not white terrible Meghan

People are complicated but the media narratives are not. Bad behaviour is amplified for some and ignored for others. Obviously it evolves over time and settles down as the media moves onto the next pairing.

I was only a child in the 80s but I remember the "Duchess of Pork" vs beautiful and elegant Diana stories. Even worse, Diana used to apparently leak unflattering stories about Fergie to the press. So setting up one royal against another is not a new thing.

And the media was all about social-climbing Waity Katie until Meghan came along, at which point she became St Catherine of Berkshire - some sort of cross between Mother Theresa and Alan Titchmarsh!

And of course it's always the women of the RF who are targeted - no one could care less whether Beatrice and Eugenie's husbands get on, or where Mike Tindall shops.

Bad behaviour is amplified for some and ignored for others

I disagree. They’re all fair game and they go in and out of favour depending on their behaviour. It was ever thus.

@KillingMeDeftly
Of course, it is all reassuringly sexist.

That is why I think Sophie will be their next target

OK Blossom, we can agree to disagree

And of course it's always the women of the RF who are targeted - no one could care less whether Beatrice and Eugenie's husbands get on, or where Mike Tindall shops

^This.

Where's the outrage about Beatrice's husband and the quick move from one fiance to another with a baby boy. There is nothing wrong with that, but if it had been a woman marrying in, there would've been no end of dirt dished.

[quote Roussette]@Blossomtoes
I doubt very very much no one in the Palace, be it the Queen, family, courtiers, spokespersons and the like..didn't have a clue what he was doing. As a trade envoy or who he was mixing with.
His wiki page is a revelation, dodgy dealings, extravagence, back handers...it's too much if a stretch to imagine no one knew.

Gone are the days that this sort of thing can be covered up, the royal family are accountable to the people, quite rightly.[/quote]
You do realise that anyone can add to or edit anything on Wikipedia, so it’s not considered a reliable source of information?

Yes.

You do realise that undoubtedly the RF would closely monitor a Wiki page for any member of the family?

Much on his page can be verified elsewhere.

@Paquerette It depends - some Wikipedia articles are entirely made up with no footnotes at all but there are others which provide sources for everything. I suspect a bio of a member of the RF would be the latter. I've just had a look at Andrew's and it's pretty extensively referenced.

I think that Camilla will be in for it again, if anyone is. A shame, I like her very much.

Camilla is the future consort - attacking her is an attack on the future King. Same logic for Kate.

Andrew is teflon and I have said before imo the price for his silence and stepping back will likely involve an agreement to leave his daughters alone amongst other things.

H&M are gone, so the only ones left on the tax payer payroll are the wessexes - they are very exposed. The loss of H&M has really upset the applecart.

Maybe they will scrap the rota.

Tbh I don't think the press are that interested in Sophie or Camilla. Give it 20 years and they'll be pitching George's girlfriend against Louis' or judging Charlotte for her weight/clothes/boyfriend etc and things will have come depressingly full circle.

@Blossomtoes

And retention of shift notes, presumably the seven year rule would apply? That’s the problem - all this happened 20 years ago.

I agree. I can understand records and notes for the Queen being kept forever, but I imagine that for other members of the RF, it’s all destroyed after a decade at most.

That is at least 10 years off. And in the near term they have that Maxwell trial to deflect from.

No one is interested in middle aged women, no matter how worthy so for now Kate is hanging on. The media will keep stalking H&M because frankly they are interesting for the time being and drumming up articifical hate works to contrast against the Cambridges.

Sophie's daughter will likely be the next target when Kate / Meghan age out of that type of press. It is so depressing and sexist.

Meant to add, there is always a market for attacking middle aged women though.

Tbh I don't think the press are that interested in Sophie or Camilla. Give it 20 years and they'll be pitching George's girlfriend against Louis' or judging Charlotte for her weight/clothes/boyfriend etc and things will have come depressingly full circle

I think you are very right. Sophie has redeemed herself greatly, but as a couple, they are quite uninteresting really. And don't the press want more than that? So I do think her and Edward's role is difficult to navigate.

You are so right... it's the three LOs who are going to bear the brunt of all of the media intrusion, I feel sorry for them. Talk about a poisoned chalice

@KillingMeDeftly

Tbh I don't think the press are that interested in Sophie or Camilla. Give it 20 years and they'll be pitching George's girlfriend against Louis' or judging Charlotte for her weight/clothes/boyfriend etc and things will have come depressingly full circle.

God what a fucking depressing thought.

Born into the Sidebar of Shame.

I'd like to think society and the British press would've moved on by then @SpindleWhorl but I may be hoping in vain!

@KillingMeDeftly

I'd like to think society and the British press would've moved on by then *@SpindleWhorl* but I may be hoping in vain!

It hasn’t changed in the last 60 years and social media has only made it worse. I think you’re definitely hoping in vain!