Prince Andrew BACK in the royal fold

[tatalan]

How do you feel about this development?

Roussette · Yesterday 20:28
As I said... if I had been born into it and wasn't too conditioned to accept itI would've done 'a Harry'

I might well have gone down that route too. But I would have taken up Charles's supposed offer of an out-of-the-way rural house in Wales.
Certainly not gone to a place where I would be even more in the gossip columns; or thrown bombs at the family I might need again one day.

Actually after reading @Roussettes post, I think their only problem must be sheer boredom. Which is possibly why they entertain themselves by shagging around and consorting with more exciting (richer and shadier) characters.

Oh yes. All the stuff mere mortals like us have to do... cleaning, cooking, life admin, ferrying kids around, trains, buses, shopping, buying, etc etc... they must be endlessly bored not having to do any of that.

No wonder Margaret didn't get up until midday. Breakfast in bed, then reading the papers, and finally an hour in the bath which was drawn for her. Then a vodka martini downstairs followed by a 4 course lunch. With wine.
Course she wouldn't give that up! She could go off to Mustique with her toy boy to amuse herself.

I think I'd have made it until 18 until I ditched the lot of them. But I suppose they are conditioned and know no different. No wonder they can't understand what ordinary people go through. What a tedious manufactured existence.

The actual ‘work’ they do would be tedious. And I wouldn’t want to be gawped at. Nor would I want my kids or grandkids to be brought amongst it all. Rousette is right, George is only a small number of years away from paps chasing him. Any indiscretions will be all over the news. I’d hate that for my kids. Plus the gossip George and Charlotte would be starting to hear now from school mates about their parents , their parents marriage etc..

But they stay. I guess they must like it. I’d love all the luxuries. I’d do the work. It’s the microscopic lens turned on them that I couldn’t handle.

The other thing that strikes me as being unhealthy is that one person inherits and then distributes money as they see fit. I wouldn’t want a parent or grandparent as my boss, that’s for sure.

The thing is, the microscopic lens isn't microscopic enough in the areas where it should be. They put up with gossip about their private lives ( often leaked and approved by their own households to throw heat off themselves for other more serious things) in return for a blind eye being turned to their tax affairs, their exemptions from legislation, their dodgy tax arrangements, and who knows what else. Fair enough, have a monarchy, but they need to be properly accountable. Right now, we have an unelected Head of State surrounded by sycophants including governments, police and courts who do not say no to them. Including, surprisingly, the SNP who allowed the Late Queen to be exempt from environmental legislation. Even though the Monarchy is one of the largest landowners in Scotland.

do not envy the structured, unrelenting formal socializing - large extended family occasions that you are not allowed to make an excuse for, and all the mingling and small talk for diplomatic events, patronage, and public events.
Much of this they do to themselves. They bloody love the dressing up box military garb. Who imposed the in order curtseying, the formal endless dinners etc? It was The Queen. She could have put a stop to it. She didn't. She didn't even stop the stupid weighing thing while Diana had Bulimia.

@Angrycat2768

Well said ! Both you posts above are spot on

@Angrycat2768 I don’t disagree with you. It’s a selective microscope for sure.

More mystery over Royal Lodge.

Very recent reports suggest that Andrew's getting to keep it having coughed £200k (how?) on patching up the roof this summer although this is apparently an interim figure and it needs the familiar £2m in repairs which Charles is seemingly pinning his hopes of kicking his errant and penniless brother to the kerb on as the watertight lease I've long cited is unsurprisingly watertight.

Fergie now reported to be stepping up. Again, how after several near bankruptcies and the £5m spunked on the London mews?

Prince Andrew is 'ALLOWED' to stay at Royal Lodge after disgraced duke strikes a deal with King Charles | The Sun

Prince Andrew's ex-wife Fergie to help fund £2m of repairs to Duke's Royal Lodge mansion - Mirror Online

Dear God, it's gripping 🤑

I'm so interested in how Andrew is paying for this. Isn't this family supposed to be responsible for maintaining these residences, so why exactly are they allowed to let them deteriorate in this way, while hoarding the money they are given for this purpose? This isn't the first time.

Also, why are there no questions or headlines about hiw Andrew gets his money?

I'm so interested in how Andrew is paying for this. Isn't this family supposed to be responsible for maintaining these residences, so why exactly are they allowed to let them deteriorate in this way, while hoarding the money they are given for this purpose?

Andrew has a lease of the Royal Lodge, but this is different to an Assured Shorthold Tenancy that you or I might enter into with a landlord to rent a property. Andrew purchased a longhold lease of Royal Lodge in August 2003 for a term of 75 years, and paid £1m to the Crown Estate to secure it.

As owner of the leasehold estate, the maintenance of it during that 75 year term will be Andrew’s responsibility. He will also have to pay the Crown Estate an annual rental, but this are normally just a nominal amount.

Purchasing a leasehold interest like this is quite common when buying an apartment in a larger building in London (probably elsewhere too, but I can’t talk to that!).

I'm so interested in how Andrew is paying for this. Isn't this family supposed to be responsible for maintaining these residences, so why exactly are they allowed to let them deteriorate in this way, while hoarding the money they are given for this purpose? This isn't the first time.

This is a very good point.

We also paid millions to renovate a Kensington Palace apartment when W&K moved in and that included wartime bomb damage which had never been repaired 😕

Kate and William spent £12million to repair 'bomb damage' at home | Royal | News | Express.co.uk

Also, why are there no questions or headlines about hiw Andrew gets hismoney?

There are articles citing him as the third richest royal on some £57m after the queen and PC but no hint as to how he's amassed it.

Prince Andrew faces questions over £57 million fortune and lavish lifestyle as it’s revealed he’s third richest royal – The Sun | The Sun

No doubt the recent decision not to release documents relating to his role as trade envoy for another forty odd years is entirely coincidental.

It's staggering how many questions there must be around his financial affairs and yet it seems to fall under the radar.

I've never been one for conspiracy theories but I sometimes find myself wondering if his finances, trade envoy work, and friendship with Epstein had some overlapping relationships.

I've never been one for conspiracy theories but I sometimes find myself wondering if his finances, trade envoy work, and friendship with Epstein had some overlapping relationships.

It's already established he was twinning taxpayer funded trade envoy jaunts with elite course golf jollies and off-piste meetings with banker mates. It's also established that Epstein negotiated down and then paid off some of Fergie's outstanding debt.

Disgraceful that papers are to be buried until anyone interested is either too old to care or dead.

I knew about Epstein's involvement in Fergie's debt.

The trade envoy part is interesting because as part of that role I would have expected it to include some wining and dining with people, whether he was in that role or anyone else, but the off piste stuff is of interest.

You'd hope someone might do some digging.

The Trade Envoy stuff was pretty much under the control of the FCO and DTI - he didn't just launch himself off wherever he fancied. Though of course I'm sure that if he'd expressed an interest in some particular sector or country, then they might have worked to deploy him there - it's one of those dull bits of international relations that is always plodding on, not usually getting any attention, though often appreciated by British commerce esp SMEs.

What he did in the margins of the trips might be less controlled by officials, of course.

Which is why they effectively sacked him. so he must have been spectacularly useless for them to have asked for him to be removed, given his status as The Queens favourite son. From what I remember at the time, he had to stand down because he was so unpleasant and boorish he had a negative effect on diplomacy. For the papers on this to he hidden for 100 years, the truth must be much worse.

Oh yes. We will never know. The travel arrangements would make for very interesting reading.

Once he was sacked from TA position, he started up the Pitch @ Palace stuff. He gave an award to Selman Turk (a Libyan gun smuggler) who then paid Andrew £750K ten days after the awards ceremony for PitchPalace. The award was bizarre as he didn't have a licence for what he was pitching for. And other contestants were very aggrieved.

Of the 750K, Sarah got 225k and Eugenie 25k supposedly a wedding present. Oh, and Turk gave Beatrice a 18k gold and diamond necklace after Andrew had lobbied a British co on Turk's behalf.

And we think our Government are sleazy and lobby for themselves? It has nothing on Andrew, a member of the RF.

There is a vid of Turk inside Frogmore Cottage... Andrew did like bringing shady characters, sex traffickers, gun smugglers, paedophiles.. into the inner circles of the Monarchy.

There is a vid of Turk inside Frogmore Cottage... Andrew did like bringing shady characters, sex traffickers, gun smugglers, paedophiles.. into the inner circles of the Monarchy.

That was his quid quo pro though, obviously. “I can’t offer you skills, talent or expertise, but I can get you exclusive photo ops…”

Unfortunately, it’s a valuable commodity.

You'd hope someone might do some digging

You would, yes, but the RF aren't going to do it for obvious reasons and nobody else can because of the overall secrecy and FoI Act exemption. Even journalists can be bought off with tradiing of "other stories" and I wonder just how much profit they'd see in more Andrew revelations when most already believe he's a complete sleaze

And who says he's not still being funded by other assorted sleazes, considering some of them are even worse than he is?

Totally agree. They used him and he was wowed by extreme wealth. He was just too stupid to see this.

As Libby Purves said in The Times.
"Prince Andrew is dazzled when
confronted with immense wealth and apparent power. He has fallen for 'friendships' with bad, corrupt and clever men, not only in the US but in Libya, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, wherever."

The Windsors are corrupt .
That is clear.

They cling to ‘exceptions’ to laws ( FOI) to hide their activities but why the hell should Andrew have ALL documents associated with his activities sealed ?!
He can’t be hidden by the ‘head of state’ fig leaf

Why are Andrew’s dealing being hidden from us ? We , the tax payer , who support the rotten lot of them, have a right to transparency.

We have a right to know . There needs to be much more of an out cry about this .
I hope Republic and other campaigning organisations have this on their agenda

The public are taken for fools .

Totally agree @Novella4

It's a huge cover up and is happening all the time

Re. Selman Turk it's also worth noting he was living in a Mayfair flat owned by the Crown Estate with no obvious indication of rent being paid

Alleged fraudster's home 'is owned by the Queen' | Daily Mail Online

There's also the question marks over Andrew's laughable Pitch@Palace 'charity' set up to skim both pitchers and income.

What DID Prince Andrew pocket at the Pitch@Palace? | Daily Mail Online

It was later found to have broken charity law with director's fees paid to trustee Amanda Thirsk. She was the former PA who'd previously resigned in the wake of the Newsnight debacle

The Prince Andrew Charitable Trust Broke Charity Law | Tatler

It's interesting to note that while Beckham insists no payment was made, the circumstances surrounding his daughter's princess party at BP have never really been fully explained.

Also entirely agree with Novella.

But people seemingly prefer to talk about frocks and bling rather than corruption, thievery of national assets and paedophile mates (latest reports have Charles considering Jimmy Savile as a godparent to Harold 😮)

Why the hell should Andrew have ALL documents associated with his activities sealed ?!

To answer that we'd have to know what's in them, and I don't imagine the answer would be pretty. Just what is known is bad enough to give a pretty good idea as to why it's been considered necessary