In recent days, I’ve expressed my surprise that there seems to be a somewhat authentic outpouring of scorn for Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson right now. Andrew and Fergie have been making asses out of themselves for decades, most notably around their relationships with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Those associations have been well-known for a long time, although the extent of the depravity and degeneracy is still being revealed. Which is where we are now: people have just learned that Sarah lied when she said she cut all ties to Epstein in 2011. Sarah was still in contact with him and sending him sycophantic apology emails. This seems to be some kind of breaking point? This is what did it, really? Not Andrew settling out of court with Virginia Giuffre? Not Andrew’s 2019 BBC interview? Wonders never cease. Well, the British tabloids have been on the warpath and something really interesting is happening. King Charles is getting heavily blamed for not taking care of this York situation years ago. An excerpt from Amanda Platell’s Daily Mail column:
In the decades since she married Prince Andrew in 1986, Fergie has committed many legendary missteps but in first befriending a man such as Epstein and then secretly carrying on their friendship when she knew exactly what sort of monster he was is surely the most egregious of them all and one from which she must not be allowed to recover.
The sad thing is that her actions do not just damage her reputation but the reputation of the institution of the monarchy itself. In indulging this reckless loose cannon and her worthless ex-husband for so many decades, King Charles and the rest of the Royal Family have tacitly accepted their outrageous excesses.
Not so the irascible but perceptive Prince Philip who, according to Andrew Lownie – the author of a brilliantly revealing biography of Prince Andrew that was recently serialised in the Daily Mail – questioned Fergie’s motives for marrying Andrew from the start. In Philip’s view, she was a dim-witted ‘girl on the make’. If only Charles had shown even a smidgen of his father’s insight. Instead of side-lining his greedy, scandal-riven brother Andrew in the wake of Epstein’s conviction on sex charges, the forgiving Charles – all too often too kind for his own good – allowed him and his wife to attend and be photographed at family occasions.
Not only were they welcomed back into the fold to the extent that they were included in the traditional walks to church at Christmas and Easter but, only last week, given front row seats at the funeral of the Duchess of Kent, where they proceeded to embarrass William and others.
What Charles doesn’t get is that every time he is pictured with the Yorks his reputation and that of the monarchy is diminished. They have come to represent everything the general public has come to resent: unearned, inherited privilege coupled with a lust for excess. The King should be less worried about breaching ancient royal protocol by banning Andrew and Fergie from ‘family’ events and more concerned with the feelings of his subjects.
At a time when polls are showing that support for the monarchy – not only among the young but even among devout loyalists – is sinking fast it is vital that he looks to the consequences his behaviour is having on his own credibility. Instead of wringing his hands and indulging his worthless parasite of a brother and his serially disgraced ex-wife, Charles should be focusing on the future of the monarchy. It is no exaggeration to say that, in the medium to long term, the very survival of the Windsors as a royal house could be at risk.
In the circumstances, no right-minded person – even a staunch monarchist like myself – will tolerate anything less than the complete removal of the Yorks from public life in perpetuity. Fergie may have been uncharitably christened the ‘Duchess of Pork’ due to her ongoing problems with her weight but now the expression relates to her legendary greed and taste for opulent living. From the very beginning she has been a blue-blood leech sucking the Royal Family dry. Now she is dragging them into a scandal which, in this woke world, I fear the monarchy may never fully recover from – unless action is taken now. The King must rue the day, three months ago, when he gave the duchess a very public display of endorsement at Ascot’s royal enclosure, almost genuflecting as he kissed the Duchess of York’s hand. It’s a picture that may well come back to haunt him.
That part about Charles kissing Fergie’s hand is true, I looked up the photo and I’m including it below. Charles also said some nice stuff about Fergie during her cancer battle as well, and I think he genuinely has affection for her. As for the rest of this… I actually have a theory. My theory is that the lack of reaction from Charles and the palace is because they believed everything would blow over, like it’s blown over a million times before in the past 20 years. QEII did the most to protect Andrew in particular, because she believed that she could show the public that they could “forgive” him like she forgave him. It didn’t work out that way, and let’s face it, QEII largely set the stage for what’s happening now. Charles obviously gets some of the blame, but royalists are loath to point out that QEII did the most to protect the Yorks from any consequences of their actions.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
