The Abbey Moment That Symbolised Royal Misjudgment
It appears like a distant memory, yet it occurred less than three years ago – on March 29, 2022. The memorial service for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey gathered a nation to honour a man who served for decades as both a naval officer and the monarch's consort. All eyes awaited the appearance of that monarch herself. When the door at Poet's Corner opened, Queen Elizabeth entered as a frail elderly woman requiring assistance to walk.
Whose arm did she choose at this profoundly symbolic moment of her reign? Not Prince Charles or Princess Anne, her two eldest children. Instead, she selected her third child, Andrew, to escort her into the Abbey. This decision sparked entirely understandable public outrage.
A Pattern of Questionable Associations
This was the same man who, three years earlier, appeared on Newsnight displaying what many perceived as bone-headed conceit and moral thickness. He denied any recollection of meeting Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, despite photographic evidence showing them together at Ghislaine Maxwell's London residence – evidence since authenticated by the Epstein papers.
Furthermore, as The Mail on Sunday revealed, Andrew demonstrated boorish disregard for public sensibility by permitting Jeffrey Epstein to bring a 'very cute' young Romanian model to a private Buckingham Palace dinner, accompanied by a Russian model and two other young women. Thames Valley Police have announced they will review allegations that Epstein sent a woman to have sexual relations with Andrew at Royal Lodge, his former 30-room Windsor residence.
The Deafening Silence from Senior Royals
Andrew consistently denies any wrongdoing, but the relentless tide of squalid stories about his behaviour in royal mansions and palaces grows increasingly degrading and shocking. In these circumstances, the silence from senior royals is nothing short of appalling and entirely inexcusable.
They owe apologies both to the nation for Andrew's conduct and to Epstein's victims. Prince Edward's grudging attempt last week at a Dubai conference – stating 'I think it's really important to remember the victims' – fell woefully short of what is required.
These represent perilous times for the monarchy. While Andrew's titles and grand Windsor home have been removed, more decisive action is necessary to overcome public revulsion. The King's and Prince William's reluctance to address the issue directly follows the pattern established by the late Queen, who consistently indulged her favourite son while turning a blind eye to his excesses despite mounting evidence.
The Palace Payment That Raised Questions
Queen Elizabeth II was at Balmoral when Epstein arrived at Buckingham Palace with models for Andrew. Courtiers would have known about activities within her home, yet she appears not to have insisted on being fully informed. Subsequently, she contributed to Andrew's £12 million settlement in the civil case brought by Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was 17 – allegations he denies.
This payment effectively served as hush money that prevented embarrassing revelations emerging in court during Her Majesty's Jubilee Year. While the Abbey appearance with Andrew represented a dreadful misjudgment, the payment to Mrs Giuffre proved worse – implicating Andrew's family in what appeared to be a sleazy cover-up operation.
Tragically, this settlement had devastating consequences, with Mrs Giuffre committing suicide and her family quarrelling over the substantial sum. Beyond the human tragedy, the payment made little logical sense: if Andrew had never met her as he claimed, why would he offer such a colossal amount?
The Maternal Indulgence That Shaped a Scandal
The truth remains that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor represents his mother's tragedy – her tragic flaw. No reasonable person questions that Elizabeth II served as a role model for constitutional monarchy and head of state. When she died, world leaders across the political spectrum expressed awe-struck admiration for her seventy-year reign during an era of spectacular change.
Yet as the sordid Andrew-Epstein story unfolds, her role in his narrative becomes impossible to ignore. Observers of the Royal Family noted that while possessing many virtues, the Queen displayed limited maternal warmth toward Prince Charles. When the three-year-old prince awaited his mother's return after her five-week absence abroad, she offered only a formal handshake as if greeting an official.
With Andrew, however, her maternal warmth overflowed into indulgence at every turn. Her wedding present to Andrew and Sarah Ferguson – the controversial Texan ranch-style Sunninghill Park house built on Windsor Great Park's edge – exemplified this lavish generosity. When financial difficulties arose, Andrew sold this property for £15 million after five years on the market, ultimately to the son-in-law of Kazakhstan's president Nursultan Nazarbayev, whom Andrew had met as Britain's trade envoy.
The Wider Family Implications
This transaction represents just one detail in a comprehensive catalogue of sordid and questionable actions by Andrew and his former wife. Sarah Ferguson took their daughters Eugenie and Beatrice to visit Epstein just days after his release from prison for offences involving underage sexual exploitation. Later, Epstein inquired whether the princesses might give him and other guests a tour of Buckingham Palace, pulling them into the paedophile's vortex.
Nobody suggests Queen Elizabeth II condoned these wildly inappropriate palace guests. However, she gave birth to Andrew, and her approach to his upbringing contributed significantly to this entire sorry saga. As a naval wife who spent her first two married years in Malta with Prince Philip, she absorbed the convention among many naval wives to turn a blind eye to sailors' activities when ships docked in foreign ports.
Andrew's success as a naval officer likely reinforced her perception that certain behaviours simply represented 'what men did.' We now pay the price for her indulgence. While we must not undervalue the late Queen's memory or diminish her monumental achievements as monarch, the Andrew-Epstein saga taints the entire monarchy. The late monarch herself, pen poised over her cheque-book, bears undeniable responsibility for this stain on the royal institution.
