Hours after Prince Andrew’s arrest last Thursday, People Magazine published an exclusive, with comments from an “insider” with knowledge of how Prince Harry felt as his degenerate uncle was taken into police custody for about eleven hours. According to the insider, Harry was always “frustrated by the comparisons” to Andrew, and “it was never fair to lump them together. Harry served his country, did the job well and never engaged in misconduct — yet lost security and housing, while Andrew was protected for years.” The insider also said that Andrew’s arrest was “sad and embarrassing for the entire family. It leaves a stain on everybody.” I completely agree, as I said.

While I think it’s stupid to press the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to “make a statement” about Andrew, I cannot deny that the two stories are linked. The institution fed Harry and Meghan to the wolves at the same time the institution bent over backwards to protect Andrew. The Sussexes were (and are) constantly used to distract the public from Andrew’s crimes. Harry is under constant terrorist threat but the British police will not protect him in the UK, meanwhile Andrew was chauffeured by his protection officers from the police station after his arrest. Well, instead of taking some ownership over how they ganged up on Harry & Meghan as a way to protect Andrew, the British press is now openly begging the Sussexes to say something. From the Telegraph’s “Why the Sussexes are staying quiet over Andrew’s arrest.”

Amid the noise, the regret and the recriminations, one branch of the Royal family has remained uncharacteristically silent. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have opted not to add their voices to the many who seemingly feel obliged to chime in on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s cataclysmic arrest and period in police custody. Why? Because for all of Prince Harry’s simmering anger and frustration at being endlessly “lumped together” with his errant uncle, he recognises that, for once, no good can come of pitching in on his family’s shame.

The Duke made his views on Andrew all too clear in his memoir, Spare. It was, he indicated, astonishing to him that while he and Meghan were being stripped of their taxpayer-funded security for simply opting out of the institution and choosing to live abroad, Andrew, who had been accused of sexually assaulting a teenager, faced no such ramifications.

“He was embroiled in a shameful scandal, accused of the sexual assault of a young woman, and no one had so much as suggested that he lose his security,” Harry wrote. “Whatever grievances people had against us, sex crimes weren’t on the list.”

Those two short paragraphs do a lot of heavy lifting. Those bitter rivers run deep. The Duke has long grappled with the fact that Buckingham Palace – both the family and the wider institution – “circled the wagons” on Andrew despite year upon year of tawdry revelations and accusations concerning his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. By comparison, he believes he was unceremoniously cut loose before being torn to shreds for airing the family’s dirty laundry in a slew of extraordinary television interviews. Since then, the propensity to lump Harry and Andrew under one umbrella as “the Dukes of Hazard” has only served to deepen divisions.

The Duke of Sussex had spent 10 years serving his country with distinction. His biggest crimes amounted to little more than an ill-advised fancy dress costume and a few drunken nights out. Why, then, did the family move so swiftly to cut off his funding and his security while Andrew remained protected by the institution for years?

It is hardly a secret that Harry, like his brother William, had never been much of a fan of his uncle, despite his fondness for his cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Whatever has gone before, the Sussexes are under no illusion about the enormity of Andrew’s arrest and what it means for the monarchy’s reputation. Harry has long railed against injustice. His personal desire for accountability was illustrated by his decision to pursue multiple legal cases against the tabloid press. His opinions, therefore, speak for themselves.

There is little love lost for Harry and Meghan on this side of the pond. But whichever side of the fence one sits, it will surely come as a relief that they finally recognise there are occasions when it is better to simply say nothing at all.

[From The Telegraph]

“…It will surely come as a relief that they finally recognise there are occasions when it is better to simply say nothing at all…” F–k all the way off. Why devote an entire f–king Telegraph article and major coverage to “the Sussexes haven’t said anything about Andrew?” You know who else hasn’t issued any statements about Andrew? His siblings, Princess Anne and Prince Edward. The Duchess of Edinburgh. Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie. Even the heir to the throne only released a tiny little statement of “support” for King Charles’s statement. But you’re going to go on and on about how Harry and Meghan are SO WISELY STAYING SILENT!!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.