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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

To support the Duke of York

999 replies

LadyLanka · 16/11/2019 21:42

Just that.
Although he is being asked the wrong questions.

OP posts:
CJDoesTheJackal · 17/11/2019 13:06

(The last para is mine).

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 17/11/2019 13:08

If PA had shown good judgement in the past I would be a bit more inclined to think he had just been duped.

However, when you look at the very questionable sale of Sunninghill Park (SouthYork) to the Son in Law of the Kazakh president for £15m in 2007, then I have my doubts.

Epstein paid off Fergie’s debts.

PA and SF seem to have a bit of a history of getting entangled with dodgy rich people.

EntropyRising · 17/11/2019 13:10

Just saw the interview - what a giant, crashing mess.

I found it weird as they were wrapping up and he said something along the lines of it was inevitable that he would have met Epstein because of his friendship with Maxwell. Why didn't EM press him on his friendship with her?

I'm not extremely well-briefed on the matter, but isn't there quite a lot of shit on her too?

EntropyRising · 17/11/2019 13:11

Epstein paid off Fergie’s debts.

Gross. Did he really? This family has no shame.

Really feel sorry for Eugenie and Beatrice.

Alsohuman · 17/11/2019 13:12

The Falklands aspect is interesting. I’m married to someone who was on the ground and getting shot at there. Andrew's war was apparently essentially an exercise. Great care was taken to ensure he wasn’t anywhere remotely dangerous and his presence was a morale boost for the troops and a PR exercise for the benefit of the plebs at home.

spoonfulofsalt · 17/11/2019 13:13

twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1195817028420022272

Still one of the most bizarre, ridiculous bits of that interview imo.

CatherineOfAragonsPrayerBook · 17/11/2019 13:14

big step to start calling him a paedo for having sex perhaps with a girl of 17 who somehow could not walk away from Epstein for years- what's her excuse behind living that life in the West in the 21st century?

It's called grooming. Look it up!
The best depiction of this I have seen was a Dr Phil episode, years ago, where a girl went on the show who had been sexually abused, raped and (if my memory serves correctly, he's had several on the show) made to have sex with other paedophiles by her own father. The father was later convicted and put in prison.

So why was she on Dr Phil?

Because she said she was in love with her father and wanted him back in her life. Her family were aghast.

Grooming done well is a mind fuck. Shove stockholm syndrome in there and the huge inequality in power, and you can hand the victim the keys, and open all the doors and windows and they'll stay. It's a psychological prison. Usually what happens is the girls are pushed out in one way or another because they get too 'old'

I have no idea why a grown woman with any life experience and access to the wealth of information which is the internet has to have this explained to her in the 21st century, but there you go.

mbosnz · 17/11/2019 13:16

I will view anybody that says they have no regrets about having a friendship with a convicted paedophile and human trafficker with the greatest of disdain and contempt, and would also assume that they'd be the sort of person that was more likely than not to 'enjoy' themselves by way of having sex with trafficking victims.

ListeningQuietly · 17/11/2019 13:20

I met PA once. He's a slimy git.

Roussette · 17/11/2019 13:22

I'm not extremely well-briefed on the matter, but isn't there quite a lot of shit on her too?

Very much so. What gets me is.... even little old me knew Ghislaine Maxwell was dodgy, so how PA didn't know, god alone knows.

mBosnz absolutely summed it up for me there. Why couldn't he say he absolutely regrets ever having met the man? Any normal person would say that, but not PA, oh no. He no doubt considers he's right in everything.

derxa · 17/11/2019 13:24

.

flowerpowerr · 17/11/2019 13:37

This photo was taken in 2010, according to the Times - was this the same trip where he was apparently telling Epstein he wanted nothing more to do with him? Hmm

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-andrew-spotted-on-video-inside-epstein-mansion-brkplhc2f

zafferana · 17/11/2019 13:42

OMG that interview was horrible! He was clearly just there to try and make all this go away. His whole demeanor was 'Don't you peasants know who I am? I'm Prince Fucking Andrew and I do whatever the fuck I want! You expect me to remember every single woman I've shagged, going back 20 years? Don't make me laugh. And as for my friends, yes I know they're a dodgy lot, but I'm Prince Fucking Andrew and I can hobnob and have shooting parties and stay wherever the fuck I want!'

Vile, entitled, slimy creep - that's what he is. He doesn't give a flying fuck about whether girls were trafficked or raped or forced to have sex with him or anyone else. The one thing he's interested in is covering his fat, middle-aged arse.

Hedgehogparty · 17/11/2019 13:46

I met someone who served with PA in the Falklands.
The story I heard was not good at all. Demanded to be called sir all the time, never regarded himself as one of the team. Wouldn’t speak and appeared to think himself far better than other men there.

Poor flying ability meant he was kept well away from the front line, tasked with ferrying supplies.

If he is the queen’s favourite son, as widely reported, it’s a sad reflection of her parenting and maybe accounts in part for his arrogance and behaviour.

EntropyRising · 17/11/2019 13:48

I understand Fergie is possibly behind the interview - this is what I heard on the radio yesterday.

Obviously we don't know him, but she does. Hard to imagine any of his inner circle would have thought he was up to this interview.

makingmammaries · 17/11/2019 13:51

In a word, yes. YABU. What excuse is there for supporting that sleazebag?

Butchyrestingface · 17/11/2019 13:51

I understand Fergie is possibly behind the interview - this is what I heard on the radio yesterday.

Revenge is a dish best served frozen eh, Sarah? Wink

And then release a “supportive” little statement to throw the wolves off the scent. 👍

OR

An alternative reading is that when a man fucks up, even/especially when it involves #PENIS, it’s still always a woman’s fault.

Alsohuman · 17/11/2019 13:53

Sounds like the morale boost for the troops didn’t go well @Hedgehogparty!

EntropyRising · 17/11/2019 13:55

I don't think it's the latter, because I heard this before it was aired. Royal commentator on LBC I believe.

CatherineOfAragonsPrayerBook · 17/11/2019 14:01

Fergie did interviews with Oprah which worked in her favour. So IF (and she's not being made the scapegoat) it was her suggestion, I could see the rationale.

But Oprah is not Emily Maitlis.

Averyyounggrandmaofsix · 17/11/2019 14:03

I am embarrassed to say this but I never understood how grooming worked until I saw the Bethany story on Coronation Street. Pathetic I know! But knowledge is knowledge wherever it comes from.

ListeningQuietly · 17/11/2019 14:12

Butchy
Sarah and PA have been back together for years.
The only thing stopping them remarrying is Philip.

Trentadoodoo · 17/11/2019 14:14

OMG that interview was horrible! He was clearly just there to try and make all this go away. His whole demeanor was 'Don't you peasants know who I am? I'm Prince Fucking Andrew and I do whatever the fuck I want! You expect me to remember every single woman I've shagged, going back 20 years? Don't make me laugh. And as for my friends, yes I know they're a dodgy lot, but I'm Prince Fucking Andrew and I can hobnob and have shooting parties and stay wherever the fuck I want!'

Grin

#justastraightforwardshootingparty. what an embarrassment

Also very telling how PA slates social media at the end of the interview. All those commoners sharing their opinions, what has world come to?

doritosdip · 17/11/2019 14:17

I think that if you've read enough posts on MN relationships, you'd realise that many women don't even consider their partners abusive until their family and friends tell them so. They are so groomed that they ask on here and expect everyone to say that their friends and family are overreacting. These are grown adult women.

Virginia was a mid-teen. Probably very scared and watched by Epstein's staff. Most mid-teens wouldn't know that if you were in trouble overseas then an embassy or consulate is where you should go to for help. She spent lots of time on his private Carribean island- was she supposed to swim in shark infested water? How was she supposed to escape undetected when her captor is a billionaire who can bribe police, get hold of helicopters and speed boats at a moment's notice? Grown women struggle to escape their abusers and don't report their rapes out of fear of not being believed. Lots of people must have known that the girls were trafficked but did any adults help?

Can one go to the police to report a powerful criminal and expect no repercussions never mind hope that they'd take you seriously? It's well documented that in the US, money buys you leniency from the legal system. Eg Brock Turner If I had known about Epstein and had to testify in court he could afford to destroy me through his lawyers, legal action etc

There's almost certainly more Epstein victims who could corrobate Virginia's story but I understand why they haven't come forward.

diddl · 17/11/2019 14:18

"The only thing stopping them remarrying is Philip."

How?