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Prince Andrew could face subpoena in new Epstein case
The notion that Prince Andrew could face a succession of legal demands from victims of Jeffrey Epstein was one of the reasons some urged him to take his fight with Virginia Roberts Giuffre all the way to court.
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He didn’t, and while the palace was spared a Johnny Depp-style airing of Andrew’s dirty laundry, the disgraced prince now faces being dragged into another lawsuit on the basis of his ill-advised friendship with the pedophile financier.
The latest claim to hit Andrew, reported by the Mirror, is an allegation Andrew was present at Epstein’s New York mansion the night Epstein raped a teenager there.
Lawyer Spencer Kuvin told the Mirror he is prepared to formally serve Andrew legal papers to get a statement if need be on his knowledge of events surrounding Caroline Kaufman, now 28, who claims Andrew was a guest at the home when she was attacked there in December 2010.
He said: “We are looking into serving Prince Andrew. We’d get a subpoena issued here in the States which is brought over to England and localized, then we would have to locate him and have him served. He should be a fairly easy target to locate.”
The latest revelations are likely to heap further pressure on the shamed royal—who paid Giuffre a reputed $14 million to settle her sex assault case, despite claiming never to have met her—to abandon his attempted comeback.
Florida-based Kuvin added: “Frankly, it’s an embarrassment to the royal family he is attempting a comeback at all… I urge him to provide a statement about what happened the night Caroline was attacked. He should be volunteering, we shouldn’t be looking into serving him to get his deposition.”
Meghan bullying report won’t ever be published: report
It was painfully obvious during the Jubilee that things weren’t any better between the Montecito and Windsor branches of the royal family. Perhaps this news may improve them a tad.
A Buckingham Palace-ordered report into bullying allegations against Meghan Markle—the claims emerged just days before Meghan and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey aired—will never be published or disseminated outside the royal family.
The Sunday Times says the palace feels the best way to avoid inflaming tensions with the Sussexes is never to allow the recently completed report to see the light of day, but adds that some former and present staffers at Kensington Palace who co-operated with the inquiry have not been informed of its conclusions and are “are deeply disappointed the report is being “buried’”.
The report was triggered after the leak of a letter of complaint to the palace’s HR team from Jason Knauf, Meghan’s former press supremo, in which he said Meghan had driven staff out of their jobs and reduced some to tears. One staffer said it felt “more like emotional cruelty and manipulation, which I guess could also be called bullying.”
Meghan said the allegations were a “calculated smear campaign” aiming “to peddle a wholly false narrative” about her.
Some observers have wondered why the palace commissioned a report into the bullying allegations about Meghan, but initiated no such investigation into her allegations that her unborn child was the subject of racial discrimination.
Andrew no longer socializing with Charles and William
One wonders how sad Prince Charles and Prince William are if the rumor that Prince Andrew is not socializing with them, as the Sun reports, is true?
Apparently this new Greta Garbo side to shameless Andy is throwing plans for Balmoral family gatherings this summer into flux. Did we miss an episode? Charles and William want the shamed prince to keep a low profile, right? And this he has been doing, not showing up to Royal Ascot and taking a lower profile at the Knights of the Garter ceremony.
A source told the Sun: “Andrew is desperate to rebuild his life and wants his titles back. But he is fuming with Charles and William for stopping his plans. He doesn’t want to talk to them. Battle lines have been drawn and this has put a cloud over Balmoral in the summer.”
Two very different royal Father’s Days
Father’s Day used to be denigrated by the British aristocracy as a commercially driven holiday unlike Mothering Sunday, which has its roots in Christian observance, but the royals now embrace this annual opportunity to show how relatable they are.
Prince Charles tweeted a series of three photos from his official account, him with his late father, Camilla with her late father, and his kids with him in happier times.
Also quick out of the blocks this year were the Cambridges with this adorable pic of the man who will be king photographed on holiday in Jordan with his brood, with Prince Louis, who showed his mischievous side during the Jubilee, perched on his shoulders.
The Cambridges have long sought to put the paparazzi out of business by releasing photographs of their children taken by Kate, however on this occasion the picture was taken by an anonymous snapper, the palace said.
Online sleuths reckon it was taken in Petra, the ancient sandstone city famous for its buildings carved into rock faces in Jordan’s southwestern desert. Kate lived in Jordan for three years as a child when her father was posted to Amman when working for British Airways.
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Will Commonwealth collapse under Charles?
Prince Charles’ accession to the throne could trigger the collapse of the Commonwealth, the loose grouping of 54 independent countries largely historically connected to Britain, courtiers fear.
The future of the Commonwealth, which is open to all countries but mostly attracts former British colonies, was cast into fresh doubt after a trip to Jamaica by William and Kate was criticized for being culturally and racially tone-deaf.
After the trip, William issued a statement saying: “I know that this tour has brought into even sharper focus questions about the past and the future. In Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas, that future is for the people to decide upon.”
The Sunday Times quotes a source in the royal household saying: “The concern at the Palace is that will loosen the ties that bind,” the source said. “Jamaica is halfway out of the door and people have been looking very closely at what has been said in Australia. The big fear—and it is not one they can do anything about—is that Australia is next to become a republic.”
While Charles has been an enthusiastic cheerleader for the Commonwealth, William has appeared cooler, saying, in March, “Who the Commonwealth chooses to lead its family in the future isn’t what is on my mind.”
The source told The Sunday Times: “I doubt that Prince William will ever head the Commonwealth. The queen was passionate about it. Charles will keep it going out of deference to her and because it’s an excuse for a few trips when he’s king, but William said he doesn’t care very much about it.”
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, continue to laugh after a bumble bee took a liking to Prince Charles during their visit to the Orokonui Ecosanctuary on Nov. 5, 2015 in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Rob Jefferies/Getty ImagesA cup of tea keeps a couple together
Camilla Parker Bowles said one color was out for her photoshoot at Clarence House with Vogue magazine: “menopausal mauve.” She is seen in tasteful dresses in bolder colors.
“Sorry you’ve got to photograph an old bat this morning,” was her opening line to the Vogue photo team.
Camilla told Vogue that public hostility meant the beginnings of her relationship with Prince Charles was “not easy… I was scrutinized for such a long time that you just have to find a way to live with it. Nobody likes to be looked at all the time and, you know, criticized. But I think in the end, I sort of rise above it and get on with it. You’ve got to get on with life.”
She and Charles are so busy they make sure to “sit down together and have a cup of tea and discuss the day… You know when we go away, the nicest thing is that we actually sit and read our books in different corners of the same room.”
Camilla also talked about why she supports charities for victims of domestic violence. “I think we all know somebody who it’s happened to. I was hearing it too often, from friends who knew friends, and I thought maybe I ought to look into it to see if there was somewhere for me to help. There’s been such a taboo. People can still love the people that abuse them, and feel such guilt and such shame that they think it’s their fault, so they bury it. It becomes a sort of terrible hidden secret.”
This week in royal history
Prince William turns 40 on Tuesday. He was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in London on June 21, 1982. A slew of articles reflect on the occasion this weekend, the most sensational being the Daily Mail’s, which claims that William is in no shape or form ready to make it up with Harry.
Unanswered questions
If William really is grief-stricken over the state of his relationship with Harry, what will both brothers do to build bridges—and when?
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