Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor : Why did the Queen protect him & was she complicit?

[SpottyAardvark]

Queen Elizabeth was very well aware of the seriousness of the allegations against Andrew, and of the testimony of his victim. She very likely knew there were more allegations against him by more victims. Yet she still protected him. She refused to take any action, other than bailing him out by paying paid out millions of pounds to settle legal claims against him by his victim.

Queen Elizabeth was part of the culture of denial & cover-up of serious crimes. Is this a serious stain on her reputation as monarch, and should there now be an enquiry into what she knew, and when, before we start putting up statues to this woman?

Absolutely!

The man is a barefaced liar. Very entitled and manipulative. The late queen was his mother and quite elderly so I imagine he lied to her and she kept the peace within her family as best she could.

The thing with Prince Philip was that people remember his off colour jokes and “gaffes” - during the seventies, he was considered “unstuffy”. But quite often his gaffes were downright unkind. I remember hearing about him being at a statue unveiling. Once HM the Queen had taken down the curtain, he said something like “Ugh! Put it back on!”. This doesn’t sound like a very big deal but it may have been upsetting for the artist who had spent days / weeks / months making the statue - and possibly the person who commissioned it. There are loads of stories like this.

This wasn’t a man who worried about others’ feelings.

Very true. They expected Diana to know her place because the Prince of Wales "traditionally" had a mistress (or ten) and marriage was just to produce legitimate heirs. Boy did they get that one wrong.

@ginasevern
Her own father and grandmother sold Diana down the river. Wasn't just the RF.

It’s complicated

So Robert Jobson has written a book - the Windsor Legacy.
Extracts in the Daily Mail this evening.
More spending - TLQ paid bills for spiritual advisers who encouraged A to chant Indian mantras. KC got a bill for £32,000 for A's live in yoga instructor.
The infamous shooting weekend in Sandringham to which A had invited Epstein and Maxwell left staff cleaning bathrooms 'littered with condoms, lubricants and poppers'....
TLQ seemingly remained 'fiercely loyal' to him.

It was all politely laughed off, but in truth, he knew that he was untouchable and so he exploited that by deliberately saying what he knew would be nasty hurtful things to people he knew couldn't fight back.

There are also a lot of rumours about his various exploits during his lifetime - however true or otherwise they may have been.

Andrew clearly learned well from his father that he could have his own entitled way and do whatever he wanted and get away with it completely; and his mother happily sat back and condoned/endorsed it all too.

Yes. She just kept her rose- tinted glasses on and denied anything was wrong. He is a disgrace and the whole world knows that now.
Mummy dearest just cared about her own reputation , she had a duty of care to the wider public but she chose to brush it all under the carpet. However at 95 she probably saw misogyny her whole life and saw it as normal.

That's exactly the kind of attitude that leads to the sort of abuses we are currently being made aware of. Sunlight always was and always will be the best disinfectant, no matter on whom it shines.

You seriously believe him having a high position in the Navy had nothing at all to do with the letters HRH before his name?

I have a problem with people saying she probably had no way of knowing what he got up to and because he was her son, she believed him when he said he hadn't done any of the things he was accused of.

That might be the case if it was my son and I had no choice but to take his word for something. But if my son was constantly surrounded by protection officers, and I had the right to question them, damn right I would!

Regardless of whether she bowed to public pressure or thought she was doing the right thing, she still only chose to pay the tax she thought was justifiable. It is well known that she and the other RF only paid/pay tax on what they choose to declare which is kept private.

There is not one other tax payer in the UK that can do that, lawfully at least. When they start paying the full tax that every other earner does in this country, I will find a bit of respect for them. The late Queen knew exactly what she was doing and frugal or otherwise, she set the precedent of none of them having to declare their taxes or fully pay what their ‘subjects’ do. In what world does that endear her to anybody?

“It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation".”

That’s the statement made by Buckingham Palace 3rd December 2019.

The Queen was still alive, and still making decisions apparently. Not good ones, I fear.

Poor Virginia to be so publicly called a liar by Queen Elizabeth 2.

I’ve just watched the Australian program - 60 Minutes. Titled “could this be the end for Andrew, the former Prince?” and it is compelling. Andrew Lownie, Dai Davis, Emily Maitlis are all interviewed. The most compelling interview though is Virginia Guiffre. She was recorded back in 2019. I Believe Every Single Word She Says. Who is not compelling? Andrew.

I don’t think they come any braver than Virginia Guiffre. And I don’t think they come any more cowardly than Andrew, and also that goes for anyone in the royal family that may have known what went on and sat on their knowledge.

The bit about Sandringham if true is utterly disgusting. It also shows complete contempt from Andrew towards his family and his mother. Who would behave like that in their mother’s house? That’s effectively what it was. Did he have no shame about staff having to clean up that mess apart from anything else?

I think we have enough other evidence to know that. This just confirms his appallingness.

The rank came with the titles and the awards. Phillip was given the rank of Admiral and so was Anne's first husband although he did achieve Captain before they were married. The Queen was as hard as she needed to be. Ousted her Uncle for both his Nazi collaboration and contributing to her father's early death. Had seen various Govt scandals and had offered her sister an exit door when her partying got noticed. The island of Mustique and John Binden spring to mind along with Bungalow Bill and some talked about antics. Oddly she was blind to the publics view. She didn't visit Aberfan until forced to and Diana's death was seemingly ignored until it was obvious that some change had come over the public. In the last years she had signed off on the leases for coastal development on Crown lands ie the whole coast netting billions. Andrew may well have been her favourite but the RF were not going to fight the Giuffre case in the US Court. Better to payout and admit nothing. But the Royal Protection must have reported back anything untoward to their superiors and ultimately the Home/Foreign Secretary since a Prince was up to hijinks both here and abroad.

Being a despicable human being does not preclude him from also being a competent Serviceman.

I do think these last 5 plus years have changed my view of the Royal family so much. After all the Andrew revelations I was angry to see photos of the Queen out riding with Andrew.

I realise he was her son but I think it changed everything for me. I now feel that everything that is done is only done to keep the masses down and to keep us quiet and to do enough to make us perceive they care and have taken actions on certain things. I realise it has always been this way.

The Queen was correct in being reluctant to allow social access eg televising the coronation as the more we see and hear the more we realise their immense by birth privilege they have. There are constant properties we still do not know about, it’s all staggering. I do think it has harmed them all. Although I am as keen as the next person to read it all.

I am sure their men in grey suits have had a lot to worry about and are still worried as there are lots of current stuff swirling around and rumbling on. I’m sure it has been said to the press yes take Andrew now but leave off the rest of them as since the statement there seems to be a fresh Andrew horror story printed daily.

Luckily for the men in grey suits most of the population are happy to accept everything that is printed without question and even applaud the Royal family for their wonderful actions.

I see William and Kate are being praised for ‘throwing a party’ for their builders. Actually this means drinks and nibbles at a private club the RF own on the Windsor estate. Everything is spin and PR

How is that different to throwing a party?

The point is, it is alluded to that they are so lovely and kind to throw a party / drinks for the plebs, sorry the builders who worked at their new property. That they are in touch with normal people. Bless them.

I don’t know. Drinks and nibbles seems a bit underwhelming to me.

He had to earn his pilot qualifications, HRH doesn’t have anything to do with his competence, he had to be safe to fly solo.

I was referring to the second half of your sentence, not the first. He didn't make Vice Admiral on merit.

"Bright enough to fly helicopters, and have a high position in the Navy!"