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The royal family
Original poster

Who advised the Queen to walk into the Abbey escorted by Andrew??

996 replies

TinyTortoise · 29/03/2022 13:07

This seems to be the most tone deaf and damaging decision. It's a public facing event with international leaders and royals. If it was a closed family gathering I could understand it - he is her son still- but why on earth would they allow him to escort her to her seat?! He should be invisible from now on and never represent the RF again. He could have attended and stood somewhere out of the way. She could have chosen anyone to escort her. It's staggeringly awful!

OP posts:
ididntevennotice · 31/03/2022 16:40

Yes, I noticed that. Also, she wasn't wearing a mask when the rest of Scotland has been forced to.

This makes no sense. The rest of Scotland have not been forced to wear masks in England.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 31/03/2022 16:46

I'm getting mixed up with the various firings and resignations not all happening at once

An understandable error, Cathy, when you consider the staff he gets through Wink

I actually thought it was three times Fawcett had come and gone, but I guess there's time yet ...

Mommabear20 · 31/03/2022 16:55

While I don't like Andrew, he is her son, and they were attending her husbands/ his father's memorial service so really don't see an issue

Innocenta · 31/03/2022 17:07

And if Wills has anything about him he may take the initiative, decide to step down gracefully, and become an eco-warrier and decide to re-wild Sandringham or build custom designed not-for-profit homes for people with disabilities or similar.

It would be the kindest thing he could do for his children.

Roussette · 31/03/2022 17:11

While I don't like Andrew, he is her son, and they were attending her husbands/ his father's memorial service so really don't see an issue

That was never the issue

AnastasiaRomanov · 31/03/2022 17:16

@ididntevennotice

Yes, I noticed that. Also, she wasn't wearing a mask when the rest of Scotland has been forced to.

This makes no sense. The rest of Scotland have not been forced to wear masks in England.

Yes but she made the rules If she thinks everyone needs to wear masks the whole time, she should do so wherever she is.
RachelGreeneGreep · 31/03/2022 18:17

Can you imagine Harry turning up at the abbey and having a fight with Andrew about who gets to be escort?

That would have been quite a sight!

CathyorClaire · 31/03/2022 19:43

I actually thought it was three times Fawcett had come and gone, but I guess there's time yet ...

Gone three times, back twice. So far. As you say, there's time yet and I don't imagine for an instant Charles has deleted his number...

SexiestDogWalker · 31/03/2022 20:33

He is her son.
The man they're honouring is his father.
He had every right to be there and his mum had every right to lean on his arm.

Even murderers are allowed to mourn and all mothers are allowed to love their children- especially on emotionally fraught days. She is dying. We all should know this, she's mid 90s and declining fast. Perhaps this was her time to show her son that she loves him still? Or perhaps he was the only choice considering the other three royal children walked in with their spouses and there could not be a risk that the Queen would fall or be unable to make the walk with her stick. Plus, he had to enter through the side door and was very much a prop for his Queen. I think it shows careful consideration rather than favouritism, not to show him arriving with everyone else as if he were welcome back in their ranks, but not to exclude him as though he were not family. To show him doing something to assist in a family capacity and not an official one.

StrawberryPot · 31/03/2022 20:36

@SexiestDogWalker - beautifully put.

UniversalAunt · 31/03/2022 20:40

‘ He wasn’t charged with a crime. The settlement was for a civil lawsuit, not criminal.

Anyone can bring a civil suit in the US, even if they have no evidence or the case is entirely without merit. Getting those dismissed can still be incredibly expensive, so sometimes people settle even when the case is completely frivolous.

I have no idea about this case. I haven’t followed it closely. It just isn’t true that a settlement in an American civil case is remotely an admission of guilt. It is simply a practical assessment of the expense and potential negative publicity of going to trial.’

This.

Tezza1 · 31/03/2022 21:30

@Swayingpalmtrees "below the age of consent"

The age of consent in New York State is 17. Wasn't Guiffre 17?

PeachesToday · 31/03/2022 21:41

I can’t believe anyone is trying to make excuses for PA. There is no excuse. It’s gross. He is gross.

Blossomtoes · 31/03/2022 21:51

@PeachesToday

I can’t believe anyone is trying to make excuses for PA. There is no excuse. It’s gross. He is gross.
Nobody has made excuses for him.
ididntevennotice · 31/03/2022 23:30

Yes but she made the rules If she thinks everyone needs to wear masks the whole time, she should do so wherever she is.

Why? She made the rules that everyone should wear masks in Scotland.

Andouillette · 01/04/2022 01:29

@Eachdaygoesby

Roussette I hadn't realised they were permanently staffed. Not all of them surely? I kind of imagined Prince Charles's residences in Wales and on the Scilly Islands draped in white sheets between visits, and a housekeeper and a valet or two sent over from Windsor or Sandringham to open up Grin. I've clearly been watching too many episodes of Downton Grin

It's no laughing matter though really. I"m not against people working hard, and enjoying things they have earned, but when it has all been gained through an accident of birth? Not so much! To me it seems excessive and incongruent when so many people are struggling today.

I might think differently if PA had put all of his privilege to good use. Think of the good he could have done for others with his advantages!

No, you are right! They are not all fully staffed by any means. The ones that belong to the crown/state (not the queen herself are staffed because they are generally large, full of offices etc. The list given is a bit odd as it makes no mention of which properties were actually bought and privately owned. Gatcombe for instance was paid for by the Queen and given to Princess Anne as a wedding present. Highgrove was bought by the PoW using his own private funds, as was his house in Wales which in royal terms is almost (!) modest and unassuming. Balmoral and Sandringham are also privately owned as mentioned by @EdithWeston above. Thatched House Lodge, along with many other so called grace and favour homes is now subject to market rent. Barwell Manor is the Gloucesters' own home, paid for by them.
notanotheroneagain · 01/04/2022 02:31

Fortunately, PRs don't get to decide these things. Can you imagine Harry turning up at the abbey and having a fight with Andrew about who gets to be escort?

That sounds ridiculous, Harry seems quite aware that the queen is mother first when it comes to Andrew, and monarch first when it comes to him. Plain to see for everyone, he comes last, why on earth would he assume he would have to fight with Andrew over anything to do with her.

expat101 · 01/04/2022 03:28

We read enough posts here dealing with Wills etc where an elderly relative has changed their mind or gone down a path believing something that seems incredible to the rest of the family and I suspect the Queen is at that stage in her life now.

From what I read, PA was only meant to escort her part of the way but She and PA took it further and that PC and PW were both outraged that PA had trumped the official plans.

I reckon that is fairly believeable while taking into account according to media PA spends most of his time driving to Mummy's these days.

It's that one sibling getting into the recently widowed Oldie's ear thing again... happens to the best and worst of families. Theirs is just more watched.

LBFseBrom · 01/04/2022 08:15

I doubt if 'PC and PE' minded at all. We only have the media version and I take all that they say, gleaned from 'sources', with a pinch of salt. They love to make trouble and my goodness, when they get their teeth into someone they don't let go. They will completely assassinate a person's character and unless we know them personally, we know no different. Then the body language 'experts' crawl out of the woodwork and other folk produce anecdotes from someone's cousin's brother in law's wife or a person who used to walk the corgis. That has happened countless times.

Gosh I wouldn't be famous for all the money and privilege in the world.

Blossomtoes · 01/04/2022 08:19

But surely you know @Andouillette, the RF doesn’t have private funds. They never spend their own money because they haven’t got any. They haven’t got part time cleaning jobs, don’t you know?

ancientgran · 01/04/2022 08:52

@expat101

We read enough posts here dealing with Wills etc where an elderly relative has changed their mind or gone down a path believing something that seems incredible to the rest of the family and I suspect the Queen is at that stage in her life now.

From what I read, PA was only meant to escort her part of the way but She and PA took it further and that PC and PW were both outraged that PA had trumped the official plans.

I reckon that is fairly believeable while taking into account according to media PA spends most of his time driving to Mummy's these days.

It's that one sibling getting into the recently widowed Oldie's ear thing again... happens to the best and worst of families. Theirs is just more watched.

Maybe PA had to walk further with her as she was a bit wobbly, imagine the reaction if he'd backed off an she fell.
herecomesthsun · 01/04/2022 09:25

imagine also going to your dad or husband's memorial and having the world pick you apart like this

The D of E seems to have been an awkward old bugger in lots of ways, but also did a lot of good for young people, and that got overshadowed, didn't it?

I can't think of any other scheme to get kids into the countryside/ volunteering etc that is working so well.

Speaking as the mum of a young teenager & as a long term republican.

EdithWeston · 01/04/2022 09:30

The D of E seems to have been an awkward old bugger in lots of ways, but also did a lot of good for young people, and that got overshadowed, didn't it?

I thought Doyin Sonibare spoke brilliantly

EthelTheAardvark · 01/04/2022 09:34

Or perhaps he was the only choice considering the other three royal children walked in with their spouses and there could not be a risk that the Queen would fall or be unable to make the walk with her stick.

Hardly. I can't see any of the respective spouses having conniptions because they had to walk in on their own, and apparently the original plan was that she would be supported by the Dean anyway.

EthelTheAardvark · 01/04/2022 09:36

@notanotheroneagain

Fortunately, PRs don't get to decide these things. Can you imagine Harry turning up at the abbey and having a fight with Andrew about who gets to be escort?

That sounds ridiculous, Harry seems quite aware that the queen is mother first when it comes to Andrew, and monarch first when it comes to him. Plain to see for everyone, he comes last, why on earth would he assume he would have to fight with Andrew over anything to do with her.

Keep up, that was in response to a suggestion that Harry's PR people should have advised him to escort Granny into the abbey.