Although the data shows that a royal doesn’t really do much harm or much good for one of their patronages, I understand why charities want a royal patron, and I understand why royal peeps want to associate themselves with charities doing good work. What I don’t understand is why big, established organizations and clubs would need a royal patron. Like, why does the National Portrait Gallery need Duchess Kate’s patronage? Just so she can go to a gala every so often? Same with a yacht club – I would have thought that a royal patron for a yacht club would be a meaningless position. So imagine my surprise that there’s an actual lowkey fight about it the patronage of London’s Royal Thames Yacht Club. The Duke of York is currently still the “Commodore” for the club, an honorary position. Only the club wants to toss him out and they’d prefer Duchess Kate.

Prince Andrew faces the humiliation of being sacked as head of Britain’s most famous yacht club because of his links to Jeffrey Epstein. Moves to strip him of his role as Commodore of London’s Royal Thames Yacht Club were discussed on Monday at a secret meeting of its senior members. To add insult to injury, the Mail understands that the club wants to replace the Duke with the Duchess of Cambridge, a keen sailor.

Leaked minutes from the meeting show that the club has had repeated discussions with Buckingham Palace on dumping former Navy helicopter pilot Andrew. Vice Commodore George Ehlers said the club’s general committee ‘believe it is appropriate and in the interest of the club that these discussions should continue’. The minutes said: ‘Contacts with the commodore and his office regarding patronage are current in the light of the changing developments within the royal household.’

The reference to ‘changing developments’ is believed to relate to the pressure that led to Prince Andrew being forced to resign from his public duties after last year’s car-crash Newsnight interview over his friendship with Epstein. It also resulted in calls for him to relinquish a number of honorary military appointments. The issue of his links to the club is on the agenda at its annual general meeting on Wednesday.

Being sacked by the yacht club would be a new low for the prince, who took over as commodore in 1986 from Prince Charles, now its Admiral. The Duke of Edinburgh is its patron, and Lord Mountbatten was also commodore.

The Mail has learned that two senior members pressed Mr Ehlers at last week’s meeting about action to replace Andrew, who was appointed Vice Admiral of the Royal Navy by the Queen in 2015 to mark his 55th birthday. Mr Ehlers is said to have described the matter as ‘very sensitive’.

A source said: ‘There is a strong feeling that Andrew is not a suitable commodore. It is a family-orientated club and Andrew is not in keeping with that. There is a strong desire to replace him with Kate. She is an accomplished sailor and would be a huge asset as the club’s first female commodore. The Palace is digging its heels in because they want to avoid further embarrassment for Andrew. If the RTYC removes him other similar organisations will follow. It is complicated by the club’s royal status – the role of commodore is effectively in the gift of the Queen.’

A source close to Andrew said: ‘The duke has been on the receiving end of false accusations for years and understands why some organisations might want to keep their distance. All patronages are on hold whilst he has temporarily stepped aside from public duties to clear his name. He is thinking about how to best serve his country and will work with his family, advisers and stakeholders on what that will look like.’

[From The Daily Mail]

If you read between the lines, what everyone is saying is that the yacht club is desperate to throw out Andy and the palace is pitching a FIT about it and throwing their weight around… again, for Andrew and his honorary position at a yacht club. The club is desperate to bring in some new blood and they think Kate will give them some pizzazz. Meanwhile, Andrew is calling up the yacht club and insisting that mummy supports him completely and his comeback will happen, he promises, and they just need to keep him on.

Also: I would imagine that many organizations are actually keen to throw away their older-royal patrons and get Kate to take them on. What’s funny about that is that she’s lazy AF and even if the yacht club does end up getting Kate as a patron, she will barely do anything for them.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.