When Prince Harry and Meghan first Sussexited, we watched as the Duke of York tried to re-enter public life as some kind of “replacement” for them. Just a few months before the Sussexit, Andrew had given that awful Newsnight interview which saw him “resigning” from royal duties within a week. Andrew immediately went to work to somehow rehabilitate his image, and much as the Queen wanted him back, the public remained disgusted with him. Before the pandemic hit, Andrew had been planning a careful re-emergence into public life on the back of his daughter Princess Beatrice and her wedding to Edoardo Mapelli-Mozzi.
As soon as Prince Philip passed away, one of my first thoughts was “oh no, Andrew is going to worm his way back into public life under the guise of helping his widowed mother.” That’s exactly what’s going to happen. It’s already happening. Andrew thought it would be a good idea to step out and speak to the media on Sunday after his siblings had already spoken and given their own updates. Let’s be 100% clear – Andrew had no reason to do this other than he wanted the attention and he’s looking to exploit his father’s death. We already had updates from Edward, Sophie, Anne and Charles.
Beyond the fact that simply speaking on camera is massively inappropriate for a human-trafficker, we should also acknowledge that what he’s actually saying is a complete mess too. He wanted so badly to extend the grief for his father to the collective grief in a pandemic. All while he was maskless. Gross. Well, at least the FBI knows that Andrew is currently available for interviews.
PS… WHY WAS EVERYONE MASKLESS?
I see that Sky News have located Prince Andrew.
I wonder if the US Department of Justice will get to interview him 'as a witness' for Ghislaine Maxwell's trial.
The gall. pic.twitter.com/YqmKjrirse
— Albannach (@SaorAlbannach) April 11, 2021
But not Prince Andrew hanging about with a sex trafficker and paedophile. https://t.co/s4FimlEZvF
— Danielle C (@Dani1987C) April 11, 2021
Photos courtesy of Getty.
How dumb is this man? Incoherent rambling.
I don’t blame him. He is a product of his class, upbringing, enabling media and the establishment. Imagine the bold faced effontary of making a public statement with those accusations hanging over him. Using Philip’s death as an opportunity for rehabilitation is a new low for the RF.
On Andrew – FFS, go back into your hole, rapist.
On a more general note, the BRF in a church maskless – WTF? They continue to model the worst pandemic behavior! Are they all Q-anon, anti-maskers or something??!!
They are all vaccinated and thus think they are now invincible. It would be unfortunate if one of them dies as a result of this foolishness.
If someone who is vaccinated dies, that it is indeed unfortunate in what it implies for efficacy against new strains.
The vaccine(s) are not 100% effective. They are pretty close, but a vaccination doesn’t make you invincible.
No vaccination offers bulletproof protection. It just makes life a bit safer for now.
That’s what the Q is for, the queen! jk, but seriously, I was supposed to move there until the pandemic slowed everything down to a snails pace in my life. Now I’m really wondering how long it will take to get things normal again, plus Brexit, oh dear. I do not understand the maskless crowd at all. If everyone followed how my household did it wouldn’t be this bad at all. Aren’t the royals supposed to be the pinnacle of how to behave, they have been so irresponsible about the pandemic it’s rather shocking. I believe whoever it was that first said that Meghan was smarter than all the Windsors combined, this whole post is a prime example.
a blind man could have seen this coming. any excuse for the paedo prince to get some attention. he really should be keeping quiet, there was no reason for him to say anything, no one wants to hear from him, he’s disgusting.
This was his way of trying to garner sympathy and make people forget about the whole epstein mess. Grossly miscalculated. But i don’t think he’s the only one using this death as pr. The hate thrown at the sussexes has become unbearable since the oprah interview but the number of people criticizing the royals have also expanded and certain critics have become louder. This is them looking for sympathy and an escape from accountability.
Yep. The number of people who are criticizing the Royals (both in terms of Andrew, the excessive coverage around Philip’s funeral, and their treatment of Harry and Meghan) has increased and/or become louder since the Oprah interview.* This funeral is not garnering the RF the sympathy that they thought they would.
(*I must add that much of this is on social media, which, of course, isn’t indicative of all public sentiment. However, I still think it is a much more useful barometer of the “mood of the people” than whatever is written in the newspapers and/or said in TV news reports).
@Emile the BBC have a form on their website now to allow people to complain about their excessive coverage so whether it is driven by social media or not it shows that enough people are prepared to invest the time to actually complain not just tweet annoyance. It’s giving me a glimmer of hope.
He is as shameless as he is disgusting.
He is shameless and disgusting, but don’t forget he wouldn’t be there talking if it wasn’t allowed by the Royal Family. You know they don’t do anything if not approved. So the blame is with the disgusting people behind the scenes. Dan Wootton just wrote an article about this that Andrew is hopeful he can find a way back into fulltime royal work. The family are allowing all of this discussion to take place. While at the same time allowing them to keep attacking Meghan that she was responsible for Philip’s death…ughhh
I doubt Charles gave the go-ahead for the wretched interview last year, nor had any control over this. Andrew does what Andrew wants.
Maybe Andrew will try to weasel back in to public life, but it doesn’t mean that anyone will show up to his events or support his initiatives.
This was the same man who thought his BBC interview went well. No self awareness whatsoever.
I’ve been reading too many comments about H&M dealing the final blow to Philip, but the same people don’t seem to remember that Andy is still a pedophile that has sexually abused trafficked underage girls. They never mention him, that he still has his titles and taxpayer-paid protection, and make zero bleeps about him adding stress to his elderly parents.
He’s white, remember?
Yeah, when I confronted some of them about their hypocrisy I was promptly blocked. In their eyes being a black woman is worse than being a pedophile. Who knew?
Gyles Brandeth who has a book coming out next month on Philip says Philip wasn’t unduly upset by SussexIt. He said Philip was disappointed and that the original half in/half out plan was naive and the interview not the best move. But also that he was deeply sympathetic, understood Harry’s anger towards the press, thought him a good man and that ultimately it was Harry’s life. He also stated Philip told him he understood Harry’s desire to forge his own path. So that was all from a respected biographer from Philip’s own mouth! So all the hand wringing and teeth gnashing can just stop. It’s just such blatantly trying to get their swats in on the back of a dead man they’re ostensibly ‘defending’. Philip was trashed as an upstart parvenu foreigner when he married Elizabeth. His own abilities and wishes were denigrated and dismissed. He was basically told to be less of himself and know his place. The Queen mother and her brother David (a real piece of work) plotted relentlessly against him. Those who use him to attack Harry and Meghan miss the fact that he was probably more sympathetic and empathetic towards them than likely anyone else in the family. And Harry obviously loved his grandfather a great deal so using him and his memory as a cudgel is wrong and cruel.
I don’t get the half-in being naive when there are other royals who essentially follow that same plan. And, I would think, numerous of them would understand disliking the press. Anne and Charles have made rude comments to and about the BM at times.
I think Philipp didn’t have an easy life, in the beginning.
He was an outsider, Elizabeth outranked him, and the courtiers…well we know.
I think he was upset with Harry, because of the sense of duty, but he understood the need of freedom of his grandson.
And personally I think he might have had one of those old people reactions “you know what? Screw all of this and live”
@Courtney B – Would love to hear all the tea on David Bowes-Lyon. LOL! LOL!
Thanks for the heads up, COURTNEY B. I just finished reading his 2004 bio called, Phillip and Elizabeth, which is excellent. Now, I’ll watch for Brandeth’s new book on Phillip.
What I don’t understand with those on SM is they act like H&M speaking in one interview was so stressful to Phil. Why wouldn’t the many, many articles attacking H&M stress him far more? They want to portray Phil as a family man but think that he wouldn’t be concerned about the media attacking his family? The BM is gaslighting these fools and they eat it with a spoon.
I think that in the final few years of his life Philip was pretty hands-off everything. He would have been aware of the happenings of the family, but not in the complete know. Which is what I think is really happening with Betty, that either she is not really aware of how deeply the family is in shts (because let’s face it if her info comes from the tabloids she is getting one very narrow view on everything) and so she is making decisions without being completely informed. She took Harry’s titles because that is what the men in grey, Baldingham, and the people reading the tabloids wanted, but is unaware that the rest of the world is seeing it as a petty and vindictive move.
@ Lauren, you are absolutely right! And Harry mentioned that in the interview, if I remember correctly. But I do think that Phillip admired Harry for his sense of duty to his country and his royal position and responsibilities. Harry served 2 tours during the Afghanistan war, created Invictus games for veterans and was deeply devoted to his patronage’s, where as the Other Brother is lazy, selfish, narcissistic, temperamental and grossly incompetent in every patronage or duty of service he is tied to. The Other Brother has not earned any respect for his lack of duty and service, where as Harry has met those responsibilities with enthusiasm and dedication.
A good way to completely erase the goodwill they had built up over the last few days*sigh* . I swear the windsors are professional own goal scorers.
I haven’t seen much goodwill outside of the usual monarchist types. If anything the reaction to the hoopla around Philip’s death actually convinced me of what a lot of British people say, that most of them just don’t care all that much about this family.
The RF are loved by an older, flag shagging, vocal minority. It was shocking to me that people actually complained so much about the amount of programming dedicated to Philip’s death that the BBC had to open a dedicated page to deal with it all. They tried to position him as the grandpa of the nation but it was an epic fail. My point is the RF are not loved and there is a huge, huge disconnect with millennials and Gen Zs who actually do not like the Cambridges and they are the future.
Can we stop with the, “why are they maskless” bit? They’re obviously vaccinated, those around them may be vaccinated or they may be at a distance where it doesn’t matter. Cameras can zoom in and out. Microphones can capture a good bit of sound and can get closer to their subjects if needed. It’s just obvious that they are protected.
Anyways…I wanted to vomit watching Andrew speak about how Philip’s death is like everyone else losing their loved ones during the pandemic. Prince Pedo, please…We don’t need to hear it from you. He needs to crawl back into his palace. Unfortunately, the BM will love to have one more royal to fawn over, so expect to see this one giving more interviews.
Vaccinated does not mean 100% safe. Not a single one of the available vaccines offer bulletproof protection against all variants of the coronavirus, and there is already one study indicating that the Pfizer vaccine is less effective against the UK variant of the virus. Every single public health professional is still advising vaccinated people to continue to wear masks, maintain social distance, and sanitize in public since you may interact with people who may not be vaccinated and are asymptomatic carriers. There are also numerous studies indicating that aerosolized virus can linger in the air long after the carrier has moved on. It is far better to set a good example by wearing a mask and maintaining a respectful distance than by acting like being vaccinated makes everything ok again.
Good post.
AZ which has been widely used in the UK is not only less effective than Pfizer/Moderna in general but it’s also thought to be somewhat less effective against the UK variant than the original strain. Probably Royals would have had access to Pfizer/Moderna, but as you say, no vaccine can be 100%.
Given that health advice is to continue to mask and distance, it would help if public figures like politicians, royals and heads of state would model ideal pandemic behaviour, and many have not been doing so, from back before vaccination was possible.
If the Royals are useful for anything at all, it would be for things like this: behaving well in a national/international emergency, in this case setting an example by always wearing masks and distancing in public to show that they take the pandemic seriously and care about saving lives. Not travelling when it’s not recommended and so forth. Attempting to better the nation and act in the public good.
I’m not saying they are 100% safe, but they aren’t 100% safe from anything. But unlike you and me, they are protected. They are getting tested. They don’t need to worry like you and I do. So even asking the question to me feels like wasting our breath.
I suppose I’m a cynic, but I’m not looking to the royal family for any guidance on what I should be doing. Anyone who does can do so at their own risk.
Yes. This. It’s about modelling ideal pandemic behaviour.
As public figures, they need to worry that their behavior is against government and scientific guidelines, as well as the possibility they could be superspreaders (see Covid train tour).
As long as Public Health is still recommending masks be worn in public spaces or group settings, they should be wearing masks. end of. They have no way of knowing who will be around – what about the church caretakers? or others in service they could easily be around? not everyone has been vaccinated simply because mom or granny is Queen. No, it’s just normal selfish royal behavior, as usual.
Harry has mostly worn masks in public. I wonder if he will be told not to wear one during the procession cuz the optics of him bring the only one wearing would look bad.
Because it’s about setting an example. This family is the figurehead leader of their nation.
It’s disgusting and the right wing tabloids and broadsheets are helping Andrew to use the death of his father as a step in his PR campaign to rehabilitate himself while bashing Meghan Markle for existing.
It’s going to fail because his good friend Ghislaine Maxwell trial starts this summer and they are going to be renewed calls for him to honour his promise and speak to the FBI about his relationship with the dead sex offender and paedophile Epstein.
With Ghislaine I think she’s going to hold out until the last minute and then take a plea deal where she will have to name names. I would be worried if I was Prince Andrew.
Oh man what I would give to be a fly on the wall of those witness prep sessions. Not that I think he’d appear if subpoenaed. Would be interesting to see though if Maxwell’s defense counsel were the ones who issued the subpoena, not the government. Doubt this would happen since his interview showed he’d make a horrible witness, but it would be interesting in terms of trial strategy.
Or maybe they would, by trying to minimize her culpability by spreading the shit around. And Andrew would add credibility to that narrative by being a horrible witness, shooting himself in the face with his attitude and tone deafness. Risk/reward, hmm.
I’m with you, Water Bearer. The Maxwell trial is going to be a huge debacle for the RF. By that time the Phillip story will be over, Meghan will have had her baby, and if she and Harry lay low, the BM will have nothing else to focus on.
Another situation I’m watching is the election in Scotland, which takes place May 6th. The Scots may bail from the UK if the prevailing party gets re-elected.
Seriously, with Barbados, Australia and Scotland all thinking about leaving the UK/Commonwealth, the BM is only worried about H&M? THIS is what they’re focusing on? They don’t know what big problems are all about.
The whole thing made me realize the Royals are really more impopular than ever. My whole timeline is filled with complaining Brits, too much coverage on tv and too much Andrew apparently.
The FBI responded to Sky News tweet about Andrews interview: “Ooh, is he doing interviews now?” 😂🤣
It was a fake tweet. But funny anyways.
Lol. The Windsor are practically vaudeville. Stupid man.
Yeah I know it’s his dad but Andrew is still a disgraced pedophile. There is no need from the public IMO to have Andrew back as a working royal. The BBC tweet with his interview was filled with comments saying “he’s a pedophile, why is he on camera?”. He trended for literally hours yesterday and it wasn’t positive for him.
Good!
Deleted. I commented on the wrong post.
Guilty as charged but he’s not the only one exploiting this death the whole family is. Sophie has been pushed out in front as the Queen’s spokesperson and Charles is using to show the public that he’s the future King. Await to see what William does.
That’s funny when all that has been about Will is that he supposedly invited the Middletons to the funeral because he needs them. Everybody else’s PR is making them look united and strong and here’s Will in need of a surrogate mum and dad.
I see the crisis managers haven’t started yet.
LOL. No they are due to start in may. And i think they will be there for about 3 months before they decide to quit
3 months is pretty generous. I wouldnt be surprised if they quit before they actually start, lol.
Isn’t the first week of May when Scotland is having an election? They gonna have new crises to worry about less than a week on the job…
If I were one of the crisis managers I would be on Indeed looking for another gig for real. This family is beyond help.
Can you imagine walking into a new job where some of the higher-ups are allowing an “alleged” sex offender to openly strut about like this? Madness.
He really doesn’t know shame. A human-trafficker and pedophile is who he is and he should be in prison, let alone show his face on tv or in the public ever again.
I hope he succeeds in coming back. Further fall from grace for the RF, more damage worldwide to their already tattered reputation, huge problem for Charles and William if they ever make it to the throne, very bad look for the Tory government.
Andrew the Albatross. I would go around just calling him The Albatross, but albatrosses are magnificent birds who don’t deserve the good name of their species to the tarnished by a racist pedo-rapist.
Laraw there is a big part of me that agrees with you. It really is karma that the whole Andrew debacle exploded at the moment they tried to make Meghan into the root of all evil. Never had there been an easier to understand illustration of hypocrisy—especially by the vulture tabloids. Even people with only the vaguest knowledge of the RF get this one.
At this point I want the Buckingham, Kensington, Clarence, Wessex and Andrew PR camps to fight it out. It would be glorious. So if Andrew wants to come back to life, bring it on.
Anne’s statement made me cry.
Andrew is going to keep trying to stage comebacks, but the public really isnt having it. The responses to this on twitter were glorious in terms of the immediate “we don’t want to see him” reaction.
So… Phil’s wake will be at the Woking Pizza Express?
Carole will be there feeding everyone cheese toast and surrounding them with goodness
Okay, I’ll be the one to ask:
What’s going on with Ed & Sophie’s identical head tilts?
Are they listening or listing?
Listing: “The angle of list is the degree to which a vessel heels (leans or tilts) to either port or starboard at equilibrium—with no external forces acting upon it. Listing is caused by the off-centerline distribution of weight aboard due to uneven loading or to flooding.”
Are they unevenly loaded or flooded?
Good question!
I did ask myself a similar question (minus your depth of analysis) when I saw that picture. It looks odd.
That feels like something they learn in “royal training.” I’ve noticed Kate does it too when she’s pretending to be invested in a conversation.
I noticed, too. The Head Tilt Trio. So strange. Like a bunch of puppies who all heard a high-pitched, squeaky noise.
I half laughed and half almost barfed when I saw him out there making a statement on behalf of the family. Sophie was just fine on her own to do it. And poor Louise having to be near her pedophile uncle. The optics. Ew.
Remarriage to Fergie in 3….2….1
Looks like Fergie is the one who threw in with Piers Moron. Bahahaha
Are the brits allergic to mask? Especially the British royals?
Chaos is a ladder.
Is that a mask that Edward is holding?
Bloated, excessive, disgusting and disturbed. Andrew is the perfect representative of the monarchy. He should be one standing shoulder to shoulder with Chuck and Bill.
Ew, ew, ew!!
Louise looks a lot like the queen.
I noticed that a lot of the photos were edited to show Louise and Edward in the background. I think she’s 16 now? I really hope her parents protect her well.
17 1/2, turns 18 in November.
Edward is the child who most looks like the Queen, and Louise is the grandchild who looks most like her. Played a young Princess Elizabeth in a riding event (Windsor Horse Show?) a few years ago. Looks better on Louise than Edward IMO. No idea how James turned out so cute, unless there’s hidden cuteness on Sophie’s side.
Looking back, across the ever-widening abyss of decades, Windsors seem to be prone to a brief few years in their twenties when they actually look rather good. (Even CHARLES, for heaven’s sake.)
Some start off as funny-looking, have their bright day in the sun, and then morph back into funny-looking, some start as average-looking kids and teens and peak and then morph into Windsors in their early to mid thirties…but they all had their moment. Rest assured, the Windsor family legacy lies in wait for James.
I don’t know Fickle. I look at the Queen’s children and I can point to someone else in the Windsor part of the family that they resemble. Same thing with her grandchildren, except for James. I’m thinking there must be someone on Sophie’s side that he looks like, and that might save him in much the same way Harry was saved by taking after his Spencer and Mountbatten relatives.
This family is so many kinds of gross. 🤮🤮🤮
I dream of a world where wealth and privilege have no say in the dispensation of justice.
My god Andrew is literally RIGHT THERE.
The entire English royal family, the entire English media, continuing to protect rich old white men and pretend nothing happened.
He’d never be accepted by the public anyway. I’m sure most people would be put off that he still looks and behaves like the entitled prick he is.
Christ on a cracker, this man has absolutely no awareness of the phrase, “get out of your own way”.