Andrew. Again.

[MrsLeonFarrell]

BBC News - Questions over Andrew's judgement and finances raised again
www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx26q9d42g1o

At this point I think we really have to ask when he has ever displayed good judgement. Thank goodness he isn't a working royal anymore.

I don't believe that the late Queen and now Charles would ever remove the titles of their DC and GC. Why? Because they believe that their status is god-given and therefore that they are entitled to the titles they hold.

It's different for those who marry into the family - their status is derived from marriage - hence Diana being stripped of her HRH on divorce. I believe if/when H&M divorce Meghan will have her HRH stripped too and quite rightly so since all she's done is shit on the RF.

I mean it would be easier to do it in one fell swoop and do all three

Lots of good points, just catching up.

I don't believe that Charles is funding Andrew, because if he was I'd expect silence on the matter instead of a clear statement. If it's proven he is then I'm wrong.

It's striking that quite a few of the royals with the most positive press are those who married in (after running the gaunlet of negative press of course), I'm thinking of Catherine, Sophie, the Duchess of Kent. It's definitely a plus for the family to marry out of the European royal circuit imo.

I hope that this isn't dropped and Andrew finally gets legal consequences.

The monarchs personal fortune just gets past down to the next monarch. Yes there will be small provisions for DC and GC but the bulk would go to the King. KC will do the same for W and W will do the same for George. Otherwise the fortune would be wiped out in just a few generations.

Well said @Beyondparody44

It's like we have sleepwalked into the most ridiculous situation where public servants (and that's what the RF are) must be protected at all costs. I am amused at the Palace trying to distance themselves from Andrew by saying 'he isn't a working royal, nothing to do with us'. Well... boot him out of that Royal estate in Windsor then!

Their fortune is well protected, they don't have the burden of IHT. 40% for Joe public, nothing for the bulk of the estate passed to an heir to the Monarchy. Charles is worth £2billion, William £1billion as of now. Money grows money. Even the Queen used offshore taxfree havens, ditto Charles with money in Bermuda.

They know how to protect their money.

I do believe William and Catherine are not smoozing with billionaires in the hope of receiving favours from them, (I really hope I am not wrong about that), but they don't have the pomposity or entitlement of Andrew or Harry, despite all their wealth they appear as down to earth as anyone with their kind of wealth and lifestyle could be. I know there is the inherited wealth and tax payer funded argument, but thats a different story to selling your soul for money.

Yes, you can understand the public not having access to some of this information, where it concerns spies and foreign powers.

But why has the information about Prince Andrew and his previous dodgy dealings “vanished” from Whitehall?

In whose interest is this being done?

I thought Whitehall civil servants were meant to protect democracy and act on behalf of the public, and protect their interests?

Are our interests being protected when stuff like this is covered up? If so, I would like to know how?

Me too. And we have to bear in mind... if this is what has come out in the last day or so, I cannot begin to imagine what is being hidden. No wonder Andrew's travel records whilst he was Trade Envoy (again he was a paid public servant) have been hidden until 2065.

I think it was pretty obvious how things were going with H&M for quite a while before they left - it seems from an outside perspective that there was just a lot of finger crossing that things would work out rather than recognising what was going on.

Personally, I would have paid H&M off with a nice NDA.

They dont need to though. They get it all. The problem is with the system, where the younger kids rely on the Monarch for handouts well into their dotage, and have no role or purpose, just to be pushed further and further down the rankings. There needs to be a change before the Wales kids grow up. It's all very well saying 'William and Kate look like they are down to earth' and 'they are bringing their kids up to be normal' but we don't know the truth of that. Neither of them, even before Kate's illness were hardworking in the slightest. Even when it comes to their own family standards. How we expect them to instil anything like a work ethic into their children,I don't know. They are already shilling poor Louis out as the 'naughty one' Who knows how they will turn out in the future. Andrew was an exceedingly cute child.

Did anyone watch The Ambassadors a few years back with David Mitchell in it - was v funny but allegedly cancelled after one season as the imbecile Royal in it was based on Andrew. Certain people didn't like it hence no second series.

Notachristmaself, I disagree with most of what you have said there, but the working Royals do have a purpose as long as they are working Royals, no matter how far down the line, they do earn a salary, not handouts, and have some impressive benefits in kind. It is similar to how it works in any organisation, the one at the top gets the more expensive company car, the better bonus scheme, gets to travel first class or on the Company jet, has retention packages and the benefits are descending for those who are not the top dog. .

The RF offspring are well supported by their wealthy parents, which is the case in most UHNW families, In Harrys case, he has been supported by his family, he has huge inheritances, probably a trust fund set up by his parents when he was born, he was given the use of a magnificent home. He lost his salary and his benefits in kind when he decided against being a working Royal.

Andrew was fired from his job, but he had a similar package, and still benefits from BIK, problem is, it was not enough for either of them.

I have to think if he was known by his family (and surely he was) to be so disaster prone why was he just allowed to do all these scandalous things? The RF employ so many advisors, lawyers, admin. staff etc - can't believe Charles etc did not know what was going on/might be going on with Andrew always. RF has had enough money to throw at him and most of these scandals eg the Verbier chalet payment, would never have happened. Why try to make him leave that Windsor house creating another scandal? They have loads of other houses, castles etc! Charles could pay for cost of it himself to keep all that out of the papers. But no. Andrew should have been convinced by family's lawyers etc that BBC interview was a mistake and not have done it. It seems no one told him ''no''? He was like cut loose long ago but doing that can't work for RF. He was late queen's golden child - were Charles and rest jealous?

You really couldn't make it up.... 'enthusiasm for China'... yes, got that! Beatrice, her husband, Sarah all cosying up together. He really is a loose cannon. He deserves to be interviewed by Security services or whatever... oh hang on... MI5 are investigating his funds from China say some news reports.

Andrew isn't a politician, why did he, his ex wife of 30 years, son in law and daughter get involved in UK/China relations?

Oh, I linked a pic... it didn't work, it was of the then Chinese Ambassador, Andrew, Sarah, Beatrice, her italian husband can't remember name and the Ambassador congratulating Andrew and his family on strenghtening China/UK relations

Why should the tax payer have to pay those nincompoops to stay quiet?

The Harry and Meghan threads fill up because they have defenders so there is back and forth between those who dislike the things they do and say and those who defend them no matter what.

We all agree that Andrew is awful so there’s not much more to say about that.

There is a lot to say about it actually.

MI5 are investigating his Chinese money. Yet you think it's not worth discussing?

I love the word nincompoops, thanks for reminding me of it, I am going to use it more often! 🤣

Cut to the chase 😂

Think of a famous saying that includes the words "apple" "tree" and "fall". Thick, entitled and arrogant is the defintion of "royal family".

I think H&M should have been paid off personally by the RF out of their very very deep pockets.

I think everyone thinks Andrew is awful so there just isn't much discussion - just everyone saying - he is vile, stupid, lazy etc etc.

I mean it is interesting that you never seem to ready any stories of people saying 'oh no he is actually a top chap!' - it is all awful about him.

But you need a functioning brain to learn from experience. Andrew's is not up o higher level thinking.

No, of course nobody is defending him, we all know what he is like.

But he is still part of the royal family whether we like it or not and he has bought security issues to the palace, the seat of our constitutional monarchy, and I think that is worth discussing

Of course it’s worth discussing and people are discussing it - but I was responding to the post that implied people would be far more outraged/engaged if it had been Harry in that position not Andrew.

Someone always implies on these royal family threads that the amount of posts written implies that Harry and Meghan are much more unfairly dealt with compared to other members of the family.

And I was pointing out that the volume of posts on threads about H&M is because they have some fairly passionate defenders so there’s a lot of back and forth bickering about the couple. That’s what makes the threads fill up.

Everyone’s usually on the same side re the Yorks so post volume is lower.