..to find the pictures of Prince Andrew..

[BertrandRussell]

...sitting next to the Queen in the car in the way to Church deeply distasteful? I suppose all our institutions are corrupt if you look under the surface, but this is so blatant. How do Monarchists defend it?

You're sick to death of it are you? I hope you mean sick of rich men raping women and girls with impunity.

There have been loads of articles and documentaries with plenty of people, some of whom worked behind the scenes or had contacts there, who have said that Andrew is the Queen's favourite son
And how would they know, either? She is hardly likely to have told anyone, so any such assertion is pure speculation/made-up bollocks.

Bertrand there was some celebration for HM, perhaps her Golden Jubilee(?), where Charles made a public speech in which he referred to her as "mummy". From what I recall, she did a cat's bum expression at that, so presumably she doesn't like term either.

CallmeAngelina - of course she wouldn't have said so outright, but you've only got to read many threads here to see how obvious it is in many families that there is a favourite.

Anybody else sick to death of the whole Epstein thing? 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️

Do you realise how completely fucking stupid you sound?? With your sarky emojis.
Moron !!!

Oh don’t be so stupid. He’s sitting next to his mother - something he’s done thousands of times!

Anybody else sick to death of the whole Epstein thing?

Yes. I'm sick to death of Epstein and males like him, who use their money, power and influence in order to exploit children and young people. I'm sick of the 'establishments' that allow them to act in such a disgusting way in complete impunity. I'm sick of a society that subsists on a culture of 'victim-blaming', who would rather believe that it's the women who are lying, who would, in short, rather do anything than (God forbid) put the blame on the men (and occasionally women) who are responsible. I'm sick of the people who claim that the many, many #MeToo contributors who have been abused, harrassed, assaulted or groped, should just put up, shut up and 'stop jumping on the bandwagon'.

I'm sick of the victims being silenced and the perpetrators getting away with it.

I'm not sick of the media reports that are finally, after far too long, bringing the extremely murky underbelly of this sordid society to light. In fact, in many cases it seems the media is the ONLY body who are capable of holding these abusers to any form of account.

HTH.

I do feel a bit sorry for Princess Eugenie, I have to say. Only the second adult royal person. I have ever felt sorry for!

She's alright, Jack. The only people I have sympathy with in this whole sordid debacle are Virginia Roberts and any other women who have been in the same position.

That person was over 20 at the time. Not a child.

And was trafficked and coerced into sex. That happens to be very much illegal. No matter what the age of the exploited party.

I feel horrified that girls/women were trafficked, coerced, I must say though that, tacky as it is, house parties/gatherings involving young women have always happened in wealthy, privileged circles. I doubt those who were invited to attend knew there was any coercion, they probably thought the host had hired escorts who were well paid which is often the case. Now it's all coming out but I don't like witch hunting. For example, I haven't seen Clinton or Trump witch hunted for being part of Epstein's coterie.

In order to commit a crime, someone has to have full knowledge and give consent to it. A single chap who gets it on with a young woman at a party is not committing a crime. He's having a good time and believes she is too. They weren't all single chaps of course but even so, it's not against the law for married people to so indulge even if morally reprehensible.

We've seen it all before. I can remember the Profumo scandal. Stephen Ward committed suicide, Christine Keeler was jailed!

There have been others since.

Andrew remained friends with Epstein after he had gone to prison for sexual offences.

I know BR, so did many others. Epstein admitted to sex with an under age girl as part of a plea. I'm sure he told his friends that he didn't know the girl was under age and they believed him. He was powerful and charismatic. They regret it now of course.

Epstein is the real villain in all this.

A 14-year-old can't be an escort @Gilles27, they are being sexually exploited and abused.

“Epstein is the real villain in all this”

Yes. So why did Prince Andrew continue to be friends with him once he had served time for raping an under age girl?

^^ This. If he had seen anything wrong with trafficking and having sex with underage girls, he would have been unable to stand to be in the mans company. He continued the friendship against all advice. He may be thick but it's an insult to other stupid people to assume you need to have even minimal intelligence to have a moral compass.

Which pics? I have not seen any recent pics of them together.

Do I find it them sitting together distasteful?
No.

It also illustrates how many mothers stand by their errant dc no matter what they have done as I'm sure many mothers on here would.
I've read some mothers will always side with their sons.
However do I find Prince Andrew repulsive.... Yes I do. I find his involvement with epstein, ghisseline, his attitudes, the alleged encounter the other photos of him with the victims Vile.

I hope justice comes for him I really really do.

He's awful.

@leaserspottedmummybird

Tired of this? No, I want it to go on and on, until all the wealthy men are exposed for the damage they caused upon vulnerable young women.

Doting mother refuses to believe darling son could be involved in anything sordid like this. He's just an innocent bystander and this has all been a misunderstanding. The Queen isn't the first mother to think like this. Even Ted Bundy's mother swore her son was innocent.

The man has been sidelined ( I think ) - of course he has a thing behind him which takes him out of first line questioning But if there are questions to be asked - he should answer them if appropriate. & by the way if he is associated with someone convicted he should be questioned - officially.