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

[TinyTortoise]

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!

It sends out the message loud and clear that the RF do not give a rats arse about the likes of VG or victims of sexual exploitation - they are above the law and so are their children

No it doesn't. It sends out the message that she wanted PA to escort her in the church. That's all.
He is her son and it was her choice.
And the Royal family are not above the law. I seem to remember Princess Anne having to pay a fine for her dog biting someone, or something like that.

It just shows so much contempt for his victims, the optics are vile.

Because Harry and his wife are SO virtuous, as we all know... Wouldn't be surprised if they put out a message to this end - now someone's thought of it

Whatever their faults they were certainly right that colonialism and slavery need to be acknowledged and the wrongs of history addressed by the family who were party to and beneficiaries of slave trading.

I’m just happy to see two major fuck ups in a week.

@turnthebiglightoff

He's her son. She is an old woman. It really is, unfortunately, as simple as that. He's faced no criminal charges (in a court etc), and regardless of how any of us feel about him he is her son and it's her right to ask him to help her celebrate the life of her late husband. It really should just be left at that and I agree with a PP, anything else is just nastiness.

In relation to the criminal charges, wasn't that what Virginia Giuffre brought against him (or were they civil charges) and he ended up settling out of court?

Why couldn't Anne have stepped in here? Her eldest daughter or William, her eldest grandchild or even George, escorting his great grandma down the aisle or any of her grandchildren/great-grandchildren?

William & Kate have had terrible missteps in their tour of the Caribbean and this just adds to the poor public perception of the Royal Family being SOOOOO out of touch with the rest of the world.

It was a terrible choice and protocol shouldn't dictate that just because one of her sons isn't married that he's the best for the job...it really shouldn't come to that. They have to be better at modernising and adapting to circumstances.

@Lovebroccoli

It sends out the message loud and clear that the RF do not give a rats arse about the likes of VG or victims of sexual exploitation - they are above the law and so are their children

No it doesn't. It sends out the message that she wanted PA to escort her in the church. That's all.
He is her son and it was her choice.
And the Royal family are not above the law. I seem to remember Princess Anne having to pay a fine for her dog biting someone, or something like that.

I mean dog fines and sexual abuse are entirely commensurate.

Her choice, her husband , her son (who has paid ''compensation'' of GBP12,000,000 for his wrong doing). We are all miserable sinners.

@Createabitofuntruenews

The Queen couldn’t care less what the Public think of her.I remember her having to be told to return to London when Princess Diana died.

Seeing that piece of scum walking next to her this morning ,made we want to see the end of the Monarchy more than ever.

That would have been when she was at Balmoral, with Princess Diana's children? So supporting them? How uncaring of her to think this was more important than supporting hysterical people in London who were not part of Diana's immediate family.

@TinyTortoise

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!

Was he representing the RF today? Are there plans for him to represent the RF in the future? I didn't think so, but perhaps I'm wrong.

@Sistanotcista

Agree with those saying “Her husband, her choice”. First and foremost Prince Philip was a husband, father and grandfather within his immediate family unit. It’s a family memorial before it is a state event. I’m no fan of Prince Andrew, but he has every right to mourn his father, and support his mother.

They absolutely could have a private memorial service with all of their questionable family members there.

And a state one which takes into account public sensitivities. I mean FFS the cabinet are there - it’s just one big show.

@HeadNorth

It just shows so much contempt for his victims, the optics are vile.

^^ Exactly this!

Just another example of very rich people doing whatever they like and knowing the rest of us just have to put up with it. We have a country that has allowed corrupt Billionaires to buy up the capital's best assets and infiltrate our political institutions. We have politicians that have given millions to their friends to provide us with dodgy malfunctioning goods without consequence. Nothing surprises me anymore. If the Queen lives long enough, her favourite son will be allowed to return, this is just the start.

Be careful what you say because you have no idea what path your children will walk down, your words may come back to haunt you.

Lol, I'm not a monarch so I don't have to concern myself with optics! 🤷‍♀️

@Mumdiva99

After seeing her sitting alone at the funeral I couldn't care less who escorts her.....just so long as she is escorted and looked after. I thought the image of her at the funeral was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. (And yes I know it happened for other people too during Covid, and I feel the same empathy for them).

Exactly this. A (less than perfect) son escorting his elderly mother to his father's memorial service. Leave her alone.

@AndAsIfByMagic

Her choice, her husband's memorial, her business.

It really is not her business.

It could not be more public!

@Swayingpalmtrees

The real contempt for me lies in the paying abuse victims to stay quiet, and by silencing so many and depriving them of closure, and by extension causing permanent and irreparable damage to the confidence in the justice systems both here and in the US to those that are being abused now, or will be in the future.

Many abuse victims may decide there is no point in reporting - because the rich and the famous will always find a way to escape the law and justice. And who could blame them.

Both sides made the decision. She wasn't forced to take the money so if you are in to blaming him for ending it that way you also have to blame her.

The advisors are as much to blame for W &K's recent tour though aren't they. Do the RF have much say in their engagements?

@crumpet

I don’t think the outrage is justified- as others have said, this is to mark his father and he was helping his mother.

In many ways it was quite a neat solution - helping her in and out of the side door meant that he avoided the parading out of the front door like the others

^^ this. Least worst option when you think about it.

That would have been when she was at Balmoral, with Princess Diana's children? So supporting them? How uncaring of her to think this was more important than supporting hysterical people in London who were not part of Diana's immediate family. It was an absolute disgrace, nutters crying and grabbing at two traumatised children. They really should have been left at Balmoral with their grandparents. The people who were clamouring for their return should be ashamed. I do hope Prince Harry condemns them in his forthcoming book.

I loathe Andrew. But I can't blame the queen for having him there or him for attending. It was his father, after all.

I think he came as her attendant to avoid all the weirdness re precedence. They either fudged it, or purposefully demoted, his daughters - who came in with Anne rather than after Sophie and Edward. But in the normal course of things, Anne (and possibly her children) would have arrived first, then Edward and his family, then Andrew and his family (or, quite often, his daughters, THEN Andrew). Theoretically it would then be william and kate then charles and camilla then the queen.

This allowed them to avoid all of that. None of his siblings - namely Ann or Edward - had to allow him to be considered more important because he wasn't there as Prince Andrew, Duke of York but rather, Andrew, son of the very old, somewhat frail queen ie unofficial. Or at least, that was their plan I think.

Of course, it all fails miserably because all it does is look like the queen is giving two fingers to the rest of the world because none of them can see that. Or possibly, the rest see it but can't do anything because mummy isn't interested in what the world thinks, she wants to protect her boy. So.... [shrug].

@turnthebiglightoff

He's her son. She is an old woman. It really is, unfortunately, as simple as that. He's faced no criminal charges (in a court etc), and regardless of how any of us feel about him he is her son and it's her right to ask him to help her celebrate the life of her late husband. It really should just be left at that and I agree with a PP, anything else is just nastiness.

He's only not faced charges because he paid to shut her up before it got to that point!

Honestly, this was a completely tone deaf decision. We pay more than enough for the RF and the least they could do is at least try to have a vague understanding of what the public think.

@tara66

Her choice, her husband , her son (who has paid ''compensation'' of GBP12,000,000 for his wrong doing). We are all miserable sinners.

Some are more miserable than others.

A (less than perfect) son escorting his elderly mother to his father's memorial service. Leave her alone

It’s not just that though. It’s a large, public event and it’s not that he’s not perfect. He’s had to give up public RF engagements became of his behaviour. It’s ridiculous to pretend that this isn’t a significant choice. She has other family members who could have walked her in. This is a deliberately provocative choice. She has gone down massively in my respect.

I think the highly annoyed on this thread need to accept that the majority of the public don't care.

I think the royal family are a waste of money and space in general and Andrew is a revolting rapey creep, but I would imagine he was the one who escorted her because a) someone had to, given that she can no longer walk unaided and b) he is the only adult family member who doesn't have a spouse and the royals have weird etiquette ideas about that kind of thing and generally walk into things in pairs.

I would strongly suspect that the Queen wasn't 'advised' to do this, but chose to anyway.

Andrew obviously can't represent the royal family at public engagements, but (regardless of how you might perceive it and regardless of people's apparent interest in it) this event wouldn't meet the actual royal definition of a public engagement. The royal family were all there in their personal capacities as the dead man's children and grandchildren. Attending a wedding/funeral/memorial service as a family member doesn't have the same rules for them as laying a wreath at the Cenotaph or unveiling a plaque outside a new hospital wing or something would.

I also suspect the Queen doesn't actually believe he raped a trafficked teenager. My guess is that he's told the Queen he had no idea that Epstein was trafficking and coercing girls and that he thought he was having a one-night stand with a consenting adult. Obviously that's bullshit, but I bet that's what he's told her and I bet she believes him. She's stripped him of his official duties because of the embarrassment of a prince behaving like a squaddie on a stag do, not because she thinks he's a sex criminal.

@BadgerB surely the difference here is that Prince Charles will become HEAD of the Church of England, which is quite different to being a member of the Church of England and surely involves a higher expected standard of behaviour? Would you be happy with Prince Andrew as head of the church?