Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
PutinSmellsPassItOn · 29/03/2022 14:24

I bet Harry and Meghan are sat there like 💅..... 👀🤢

And he won't get a tenth of the backlash they got from the media for daring to get away from that toxic shitstorm funded by tax payers. Hmm

Swayingpalmtrees · 29/03/2022 14:24

Prince Andrew has really let his mother down over the years, and it is her decision to forgive him and her choice to spend as much time as she wishes with him privately, but to walk in with him in the full public glare like that was a terrible decision.

Maybe she feels the public will ease off if he is seen with her, but I can't think that will work. It is more likely to damage the RF even further.

milveycrohn · 29/03/2022 14:25

To be honest, it is what I expected to happen.
I cant stand PA, but technically, he has not been convicted of anything. Both the FBI and the UK police decided there was no case to answer, and the recent payoff was a civil case.
I expected him to come in by a side entrance rather than walking all the way up the aisle like all the other royals did, and I think she was holding his arm, until he stopped at his seat on the other side of the aisle. It all made sense to me

Blossomtoes · 29/03/2022 14:25

This was not just an old lady's private memorial for her husband, it was a public facing event

It was both. I’m really sorry she chose to do this because it shows she really doesn’t understand the level of public disgust he evokes.

Comedycook · 29/03/2022 14:26

@Swayingpalmtrees

I have no problem with PA attending his father's memorial, he should not have been walking in with the Queen to do so, that was PC's role as future king, and he should have quietly taken a seat without any fuss.

I can't think why they keep making such public mistakes such as this.

Agree. No surprise he was there but I had assumed they'd have had him keep a low profile. I find it quite shocking.
TatianaBis · 29/03/2022 14:26

@LadyLolaRuben

It was the same advisor who oversaw William and Kate's latest tour!
😆 Yeah
callingon · 29/03/2022 14:26

@LondonWolf well yes that has occurred to me 🤷🏻‍♀️ However I went from being someone who would defend the monarchy as an institution- albeit with very little sentimental attachment to the Queen - to someone who is hoping William will never be king. The decisions she makes have an impact, even if she is in her 90s.

LBFseBrom · 29/03/2022 14:27

@AndAsIfByMagic

You must be one of the only people in the world who think he is innocent of all wrong doing, but it is nice he has some fans left.

But I didn't say that, did I?

No need to lie.

Indeed you did not say that.

You don't have to be a 'fan' to want fairness and exercise a degree of objectivity. Why so many want to think the worst of somebody is beyond me. It's over!

Meirou90 · 29/03/2022 14:28

Is it only just dawning on people now, how heinous this family is?

StarbucksSmarterSister · 29/03/2022 14:28

Apparently a wheelchair in public was not considered as HMQ was concerned about "the optics" as it might be undignified.
What was this?

I'm appalled. I just hope we never see him in public again after his mother's funeral, whenever that may be.

Hshuznw · 29/03/2022 14:28

@ArtVandalay

She paid out millions to silence his accuser. She effectively gives him her blessing by this public show of favour.

They’re even more out of touch than we thought. A republic can’t come soon enough.

VG was not silenced. She chose to be silenced when she accepted the money.
123ZYX · 29/03/2022 14:28

If nothing else, it was poor PR. The headline on my news notification was about Andrew, not Prince Phillip - it's completely changed the focus.

I wonder if George and Charlotte were there in an attempt to distract attention?

Swayingpalmtrees · 29/03/2022 14:28

You can really see why Prince Andrew thought he could literally do anything he likes and Mummy will fix it, this is a case in point. He was not wrong was he.

A trafficked woman/women meanwhile sits elsewhere with her life in tatters paid to shut the hell up - and I just wonder what she makes of this.

Suzi888 · 29/03/2022 14:29

@Sharrowgirl

He’s still her son. And whether we like it or not, he’s not been convicted of a crime.
^ This
Swayingpalmtrees · 29/03/2022 14:30

Why so many want to think the worst of somebody is beyond me. It's over!

It is not over, no matter how much you might wish it was.

User76745333 · 29/03/2022 14:30

As much as people might not like it he has not been nor will he ever be convicted of anything in relation to those allegations. They may or may not be true. They might actually have just been a way of extracting money from someone who would always ultimately settle out of court to make a mater go away. Or he might be guilty of everything he was accused of.

We will never know. But the fact remains that this is his father's service and his mother needs him there.

AmyDudley · 29/03/2022 14:30

Why couldn't Princess Anne escort her mother? I'm sure Anne's husband could have found his own way to his seat while she gave her Mum an arm to lean on, and Andrew could have have been stuck out of sight somewhere.

Blossom64265 · 29/03/2022 14:30

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.

tkwal · 29/03/2022 14:31

It was a family occasion. The D of E was Andrews father. I don't think it was "tone deaf" at all but a deliberate action by the Queen to emphasise that he is still her son. The RF is like any other, some of them have made HUGE errors of judgement but they remain family

BoodleBug51 · 29/03/2022 14:31

To the PP who asked, "Edinburgh Green" was PP's official livery colour. That's why several were wearing green today.

LadyEloise1 · 29/03/2022 14:32

I'm really disappointed that the Queen chose Andrew to accompany her, yet again.
She has 2 other sons and a daughter and adult grandchildren who could have done the job just fine.
She is sticking two fingers up to most of the rest of us.

Swayingpalmtrees · 29/03/2022 14:32

I would have a lot more respect for PA if he had actually gone to court, stood by his story and was found innocent at a trial. That would be the fair and honourable thing to do.

Paying someone to take the problem away will always provoke more questions than answers.

ChicCroissant · 29/03/2022 14:32

I didn't think it was the best decision the Queen has made, but can also see that it meant Andrew didn't go anywhere near the press or public - so perhaps it was the way to get him in to his father's memorial service with the least fuss. I don't think I'd have wanted him walking through the front door and past all the guests, but I do think he's entitled to attend the service. That may have been the quietest way of doing it and it was going to be awkward no matter what.

With some of the great-grandchildren there as well, it did feel like the transfer of power down the family (from Queen to Charles) is getting closer. The Queen looks very frail now.

mam0918 · 29/03/2022 14:33

@Escarpahell

Her husband, her choice.
???
londonmummy1966 · 29/03/2022 14:33

For those asking about the green - it was Prince Philip's livery colour.

I do think that hard as it is to stomach, having PA escort the Queen in via a side door was probably the right decision in a Catch 22 situation for the Queen. Given she was not going to walk down the aisle PC and Camilla needed to lead that element of the service with the other senior royals and Andrew needed to be disassociated from that so coming in the side door with his mother was the obvious solution. It is sometimes better just to deal with the elephant in the room directly so made it possible to say quickly where he was and move on. If he'd be relegated to some far back corner there would have been so much time spent searching for him and lots of shots of Andrew away from the family etc. and would probably have dominated the coverage tomorrow. I'd rather he popped up briefly helping his mother in and that's it rather than have loads about where he was sitting and why etc in the papers tomorrow.