Within 48 hours, two somewhat significant things happened within this ongoing catastrophe of “Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein, the Epstein Files and the Windsors’ failure to do anything about it.” First, the Times published a piece straight from King Charles’s PR workshop, in which they claimed that Andrew is “unstable” and that Charles is merely trying to “contain” the situation without pushing for Andrew to be criminally investigated. The second thing: hours before Prince William arrived in Saudi Arabia to jazz-hand his way through a meeting with Prince Bonesaw, his spox suddenly issued a statement, claiming that William and Kate’s “thoughts remain focused on the victims.” Shockingly, that was Will and Kate’s first-ever on-the-record statement about Andrew and Epstein. Well, over the weekend, Tom Sykes had some interesting analysis of the chaos within the Windsor clan as they flop around helplessly, trying to figure out what they should say to stop the bleed. Some lowlights:
King Charles only ordered Andrew to move to Norfolk after Andrew waved to people in Windsor: Personally, I would have thought Andrew had done far worse things than wave at photographers, and the King’s failure to firmly tackle this issue for years has been an abject lesson in bad news management.
Charles is to blame for the focus on Andrew’s living situation: Three years ago, most people had only the vaguest idea where Andrew lived; a small percentage of people gave a damn, but not the general commonweal. It was Charles who first turned Andrew’s housing arrangements into a rolling national story by endlessly publicizing in the newspapers how he wanted him out of Royal Lodge.
Andrew will probably live at Wood Farm permanently: Now, no sooner had Andrew arrived at his “stopgap” new home, Wood Farm, than briefing began that it might prove very hard to get him out again and into Marsh Farm, the smaller house nearby which is supposed to be his permanent home. I am told that building work at Marsh Farm appears to have stalled. Shunting Andrew from house to house will keep this story alive. My suggestion to Charles would be to leave him at Wood Farm and be done, but just as he made Royal Lodge a story two or three years ago by endlessly briefing the press that Andrew had to move out, Charles is once again turning his brother’s living arrangements into front-page news.
Police investigations: One story reports that Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew entertained four young women at a private dinner at Buckingham Palace, with Epstein describing one of the girls in email correspondence as “very cute.” Another batch of documents laying out allegations from a second woman who says she was trafficked to the U.K. by Epstein in 2010 for a sexual encounter with Andrew at Royal Lodge and later taken on a tour of Buckingham Palace is being scoped by Thames Valley Police, who cover Windsor. The Metropolitan Police, who have been repeatedly urged by campaigners and the anti-monarchy group Republic to reopen a full criminal inquiry into Andrew, said this week that no new Met investigation has been launched into him, despite the latest document dump.
Prince William’s thoughts on Beatrice & Eugenie: As I have been reporting for some time, Charles and William have starkly different ideas about what is appropriate when it comes to rehabilitating, or even merely accommodating, renegade members of the family. William is personally fond of Beatrice; he is cooler on Eugenie, who has maintained a friendship with Harry and Meghan, visited the exiles in California and been publicly pictured with them. Personal feelings aside, he regards the King’s embrace of the two young princesses as further evidence of what he sees as Charles’s chronic weakness when it comes to Andrew. William’s view of the core issue is straightforward: we do not yet know the full extent of Beatrice and Eugenie’s involvement, if any, in Epstein’s world or their father’s business networks, and until that is resolved, they should not be anywhere near the public-facing royal family.
William wants Andrew to face a real police investigation: Friends of William have told me that he would have “no hesitation” in letting it be known that Andrew should face a “proper” police investigation if he were king, and that he genuinely believes the monarchy cannot remain popular and respected if it does not at least give the appearance of respecting the principle that no man is above the law. By contrast, those close to the King believe he has no desire whatsoever to see his brother subjected to a full-blown police inquiry. One former royal staffer put it bluntly: “The monarchy has shielded Andrew from any accountability for his actions for decades. That’s not about to change.”
“The monarchy has shielded Andrew from any accountability for his actions for decades. That’s not about to change.” Chilling. It’s accurate too, because we can see it all with our own eyes, the lack of accountability, the refusal to acknowledge victims in a real way, and Charles’s boneheaded belief that he can merely hide Andrew away and everyone will forget about it. Not that I believe William is truly gung-ho about serving up his uncle to the police. I think this is one of those moments where William talks a big game behind the scenes but, in his father’s place, William would largely respond in the same way or a similar way. Charles’s actions can be seen through the prism of “trying to protect the institution from any further fallout.” William’s words should be seen through the prism of “a scooter-riding man-child who wants to rage out on his family.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
