Why does everyone love the queen, when she paid off Andrew’s victims?

[Lovefromjuliaxo]

Just on the back of Huw Edwards sentencing, I remember he was the one to announce the passing of the queen. Cue everyone crying, saying how wonderful she was etc. But I can’t get on board with respecting a woman who basically paid to keep her son out of prison. Why does everyone still adore her? And why did Andrew’s victim take the money instead of getting him punished, even if it was just a suspended like Edwards?

**edited for spelling

@RogueFemale

So it was handled correctly?

Her name is Virginia.

I don't accept that Philip was a "massive racist" at all. He was a man of his time, and you cannot apply the standards of 2024 to him. He was outspoken, certainly, and said things that would have been better left unsaid, but I am not aware of anything he said or did that was detrimental to anyone on the basis of race.

Isn't a little information a dangerous thing in the hands of people who don't know what they're on about!

Quite. The image she herself provided shows her with her arms round Andrew, grinning. As far as I'm aware, there's no evidence that he knew she was anything other than a willing partner. I thought their 'encounter' was in the UK anyway - so she would have been above the age of consent. It's entirely plausible that what he did was icky but entirely legal, and likely far less awful than what other grubby old rich men get up to all day every day without censure. But by all accounts he's a deeply revolting person so I'm not too concerned if he's pilloried unfairly.

Yes, exactly the result you'd expect. That Andrew would fork out upfront to avoid a trial where the details of his actions would've been exposed. That's why he paid so many millions (or rather, his mother did).

Exactly. So it's not 'proof' of anything in spite of all her vaunts that she wanted "justice"!

@rumblegrumble The image she herself provided shows her with her arms round Andrew, grinning. As far as I'm aware, there's no evidence that he knew she was anything other than a willing partner.

I have photos of me smiling age 17 with my father who was abusing me.

Or, the details that she claimed were the truth, would be exposed.

Get a grip @Runnerinthenight, the Royal Family are really not worth all this slavish adoration. They're just another dysfunctional family, one that happens to have held on to the wealth and power accumulated by their despotic ancestors.

I'm not going to go and read a load of fawning biographies about these idiots, I'm not a maniac.

Or more like the allegations, in a lot of cases without any real evidence, would stick by virtue of them having been given airtime. No smoke without fire kind of thing.

I think the RF were between a rock and a hard place on this one. I don't think the Queen was left with much choice.

Do remember that Jeffrey Epstein was convicted and sent to prison.This wasn't imaginary.

@RogueFemale I’m sorry that happened to you 💐

Methinks the lady doth protest too much...! I'm not the one who needs to "get a grip"!

Where's the "slavish adoration"?! You might understand things rather better if you studied some history and educated yourself some more. There's a whole world of learning out there.

However you would rather lambast the RF from a position of ignorance. I know which I prefer.

Again, I do not dispute that Epstein & Maxwell trafficked women and underage girls.

Epstein committed a legion of crimes. That's why he was convicted and sent to prison.

Quite why Andrew associated himself with him just beggars belief, given his position in the RF. I guess it was because he was a greedy bastard, and Epstein I believe gave him and Sarah large amounts of money - putting them in his debt, and giving him power over them, the pair of twats.

I’ve name changed because I think Prince Andrew is an obnoxious oik but for reasons other than whatever may have happened with Virginia Roberts.

Virginia Roberts was poached from the spa at Mar-a-Lago and hired to work as a private masseuse when she was 17. Her ‘clients’ were her boss (Epstein) and his mates. No doubt she had sex with some of the men she ‘massaged’. However, she made allegations against many men some of which she later withdrew saying that she had been ‘mistaken’.

Those men:
accepting a massage arranged by a business associate (or even friend) = odd
having sex with the massage therapist = looks a lot like prostitution

Did they know she was trafficked? Probably not.
Did they know she was underage in some jurisdictions? Probably not.

The men that Virginia Roberts accused were all wealthy and high profile. As I said, she later withdrew some of the allegation saying that she had been mistaken (about who she had sex with?). Prince Andrew, in particular, was still quite popular at that time, certainly with women, and I have no doubt thathe didn’t suffer from a lack of female company. It is highly likely that most women that met him would have flattered if he tried to get them into bed although his chat up lines definitely leave something to be desired.

Is Prince Andrew at fault if he had sex with Virginia Roberts when she flirted with him and encouraged his interest (at the urging of her boss). Epstein was running an exploitative sex and blackmail ring.

As much as I dislike Prince Andrew, I don’t think he was to blame. He just saw her as another pretty face smiling at him and hanging on every word.

For many other reasons, however, he remains an obnoxious oik who should have stopped representing his country many years ago. He has not been well thought of in diplomatic circles since shortly after leaving the navy.

I am sorry that happened to you @RogueFemale.

I'm not disputing that she was trafficked or that she was an entirely unwilling partner. But for him to be guilty of a crime, he would have to know she was unwilling and if she was smiling and cuddling him and agreeing to go to bed with him, why would it occur to him that maybe she was actually being trafficked by his friend and didn't really want to sleep with him? Especially if he has the ego the size of a planet and thinks of himself as a super-desirable handsome prince who all women obviously want to shag? I of course have absolutely no idea if that's the case, or if he was fully aware that she was not there by choice - but for him to be found guilty of a crime she would have had to have proof and going by the evidence we've seen, she didn't.

Great post - very well summed up!

Can someone tell me if she was “of age” or not? It’s confusing

america age of consent 18
UK 16

Sorry but if this is true why did he say he had no recollection of ever meeting her?

I believe the first alleged incident was in London, age 17.

Then further alleged instances in America, at a later date.

I would imagine that going up against the Royal family in legal matters is no small thing. Can you imagine the lawyers they can afford? How much of your personal history the press would dig up? Every detail about your relationships, childhood, trauma being front page news, for months?

I think her own lawyers probably had to have some conversations with her along the lines of doubting the likelihood of success. The evidence from events so many years ago was likely not highly likely to lead to success.

There was a good article at the time about why the victim would settle in a case like this. I forget the ins and outs but I remember it opened my eyes to the complexities and it made sense to me.

I still like the Queen. She did a lot of things in her life that I'm a fan of. Yes she paid the victim. I think that's complicated isn't it - it was probably partly to avoid dragging the family through scandal but I also see it as an acknowledgement to the victim. The case was a monetary one anyway, wasn't it?

She also stripped Andrew of his HRH title, military titles and patronage, and allegedly left nothing to him in her will. She's not one to do those things lightly, and each sends a very strong message as to what she thought of her son.

Quite possibly because he'd slept with lots of women and he didn't recall her specifically?

He was fairly handsome when he was younger and was known at one point as 'Randy Andy' which is kind of self-explanatory!