Whenever anyone other than Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge gets bad press, I always wonder if it’s William and Kate’s press office orchestrating it. It’s not that I think the Kensington Palace press office is good at what they do, or that Poor Jason is even that forward-thinking and Machiavellian, but I always wonder “why are we hearing about so-and-so doing this?” I’ve suspected for a few months now that something is going on with Will and Kate, but maybe bad stories just happen to crop up about other royal figures, and not everything is some kind of Normal Bill conspiracy. So, we’ve been talking a lot about Prince Andrew this year, and how he wants many, many things for his “blood princess” daughters. The British press has painted Andrew as grasping, pushy and overly concerned about his daughters’ status. And now this – Andrew took an expensive helicopter ride to an event.
The Duke of York took a helicopter flight costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds to a royal engagement just seven miles away from Sandringham – despite planning to spend Christmas there in a fortnight’s time. Prince Andrew, once dubbed “Air Miles Andy” for his love of luxury travel, took the Queen’s Flight to visit a construction site in Norfolk on Thursday. It came a day before he tweeted an extraordinary personal statement accusing the press of making up stories about him.
The 110 mile, 45-minute journey to Bircham Newton is estimated to have cost £3,000. A standard class train ticket from Kings Cross to Kings Lynn would have cost £34.60 (or £55.40 for a first class seat) with a direct journey time of just one hour, 37 minutes. A chauffeur-driven car from Kings Lynn station to Bircham Newton, 15 miles away, would have cost £33.
Royals are permitted to take occasional helicopter flights, although the Queen travels to and from Sandringham by train. Last December, the 90-year-old monarch travelled on a standard class ticket alongside commuters as she and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Norfolk for their annual Christmas break. She and Prince Philip are expected to make the same journey on the Great Northern train line in the next week.
The Queen’s Flight is used by Royal Family members on official engagements and funded by the Sovereign Grant, the system by which the Queen’s wealth is derived from land and property income controlled by the Treasury.
I’ll say something nice – Andrew took the helicopter ride for an actual work event, which is the whole intention of the Queen’s Flight, that royals get to use the helicopter for work. Of course the helicopter is super-convenient for people who don’t want to muck about with the peasants on public transport. But surely the train isn’t such a terrible option? My God. As for the sketchy wording around “just seven miles away from Sandringham” – not to defend the Duke of York, but he wasn’t currently staying at Sandringham, he was in London. They’re trying to make it sound like Andrew had to take a helicopter to go seven miles away. That’s not the case – he flew in from London. He should have taken the train though.
I imagine we’ll be getting more of these stories in the weeks to come as the royals assemble at Sandringham for the holidays though. Will the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also take helicopters to and from London and Anmer Hall?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Would you like a PR coup? Take the train!
The Queen does not mingle with commuters. Also because of security, not to mention her large entourage, it costs a lot more than £34 for her to get good press with her “just a regular queen, taking the train” bullshit.
Andrew gets bad press all the time. For years now. Because he’s a boorish jerk and everyone but the Queen hates him.
And why would the press ever give Andrew credit if he tried?
Could Charles be behind the bad press coverage for Andrew & his girls?
I don’t think Andrew needs any help in getting bad press. He does just fine on his own.
He’s been known as “air-miles Andy” for decades for his tendency for taking planes rather than other transport – this has nothing to do with his recent spat with Charles
Has he stopped coloring his hair? It looks so white all of a sudden. He was so handsome back in the day.
I know! I used to have a crush on him (and Prince Albert) when I was a teenager. What a disappointment they turned out to be. Not exactly prince charming …
I know he was a big heart throb.
It is strange that he was the Prince Harry of his generation – good looking and a war hero
Um. Not to defend Andrew too much, but I’m positive I remember reading on this site that Kate did the exact same thing a while back.
She did and it was covered here. But it should be when any of them waste taxpayer money like that.
He has a smile like the Queen’s. I doubt he would take a train, he’d have to mix with the common folk.
I don’t think it’s a conspiracy to throw others under the bus to cover for William and Kate. I think Andrew releasing that statement did two things 1) brought attention to himself and now people are temporarily more interested in stories about him and 2) he pissed off the press and they are going to go for blood. There is an element of number two going on with Harry right now as well as a result of his statement which pissed off the press. Though I will say when Harry and Andrew do stupid things like potentially misuse public funds they make themselves easy targets for the press to attack.
I am not against them going after Andrew for this, but we know Will and Kate have used the helicopter more than just once and sometimes not for work events. The press needs to attack all of them for this. Otherwise this seems like a distraction from the Will and Kate shenanigans.
I agree.
Andrew deserves his ‘airmiles Andy’ moniker, but they are all at it.
LAK, didn’t you ferret out in a recent royal report that W&K are considered “senior royals” for travel? As a result, travel between any residence is considered work travel. Any residence, whether for work or not. Wonder if it includes Middleton Manor.
Nota: Yes vis a vis WK.
I am willing to bet they use the helo to Midfleton Manor because we’ve stopped getting twitter sightings of Kate heading to Middleton manor though she is seen at the Manor. Do you remember how often she was sighted on the motorway?
I wonder if that means there is now a fleet of secured Range Rovers stored nearby, on the taxpayer’s dime? That would allow her to go shopping while she is there.
Actually I believe Harry benefits this time. Now people will focus on this and stop posting about the cost and protocol breach of his detour to Canada.
And if it were B or E, that detour would have been described as a holiday with added implication that it was much longer than the day or so Harry was in Toronto.
I think where the royals are concerned, the question is which one benefits from throwing the other under the bus? More often than not, the beneficiary is the source.
Yes. And this time it’s Harry. His detour was still one of the top stories. Now people will hate and report on Airmiles Andy again.
It’s Charles. Who’s trying to justify cutting out the Yorks.
As Dirtbag as DoY is, some how the appalling inflow of all negative stories pertaining anyone other than The Heir and his Heir seems a fishy to me too.
Do people buy these stories of non stop negativity in this age of social networking? The cover up seems so shoddy and flawed .
I’m not going to think too much about this, but. It’s Andy. My gut instinct is always to roll my eyes, and I would not be surprised if he was just offered the helicopter ride and jumped on the option without either exploring the cost or the alternatives. It’s not a direct example of his entitlement, but more just that he’s thoughtless and lacks foresight, just as he always has in basically every aspect of his life.
“It’s not a direct example of his entitlement,” That’s exactly what it is. How many do you know have the luxury of hopping a free helicopter to work?
I meant more in the sense that I doubt he outright asked for the helicopter. Like I mentioned, it was probably on offer, and he just took it carelessly. Someone like the Queen would have counted the expenses and likely asked for the alternative. You’re right, it’s still entitled of him to have accepted at all, but it wasn’t an outright demand I guess, which is more of what I was getting at? (Sorry it’s difficult to explain!)
I get what you mean, A. More of a here, use my chopper as opposed to I’m a prince and I deserve a helicopter. You explained it fine, I misread it. Sorry:)
He is no exception to slate for it – they have ALL done it. The Wessex’s got stick a few years ago for doing something similar, HOWEVER its for an engagement (as was the Wessex’s one).
The DoLittles have previous for using it to go to Mummy Mids and polo matches.
Yes, she spent an hour in the woods with low-income kids. Gave them a lecture about how they should turn off the tv and go to the country more often. Missed the point that the reason they don’t do outdoor activities is because they cannot afford them – the point of the charity. This was the engagement where she took the dog along, spent much of the time playing solo with the dog and ignoring the kids. Caught on camera.
After that hour of work, she hopped in the helo, stopped somewhere to change, and showed up at one of William’s polo matches. Private travel paid for by the taxpayers.
He should have taken the train or even gone by car but he is far from alone. All the royals especially the Dolittles have taken advantage of the helicopter. At least this was for a Royal engagement. I agree with others who have mentioned all the bad press for Andrew just now is largely of his own doing but I suspect it is being fuelled by KP and Clarence House to take the focus away from them.
Where are you Sixer? I miss your comments about anything Royal 🙂
Just a thought but security for the train ride or security for roadways if he drove, would have likely been as, if not more, expensive than a brief helicopter flight.
Also…Why all this small news about UK royals, when we’re about to have our very own gold plated Russian oligarchs and faux Tsar in our White House? While it makes me sick to my stomach, it will at least spark some serious news and real time gossip – unless of course the Electors wake up and do the right thing.
As a slightly off topic point of interest:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4024370/Boris-Johnson-knocks-bid-Blair-funding-taxpayer-s-bill-ex-PM-hits-3MILLION-year.html
Of all the current crop of royals, the corrupt despot-loving money-grubbing snob known as Airmiles Andy is the one I despise the most.