The late Queen Elizabeth II ignored advice from senior courtiers to suspend Prince Andrew after allegations were first made concerning his involvement with sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, instead choosing to distance herself from the courtiers in question, a new report has claimed.
The allegations will reinforce the notion that Elizabeth, who was known to have a soft spot for what was often said to be her favorite son, sought to minimise and make allowances for Andrew’s behavior.
Of course, the narrative often promulgated by the Palace was that when it came to hard decisions concerning the integrity of the institution of the monarchy, she moved ruthlessly to cut Andrew out.
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This characterization of events has always, however, been questioned by insiders who feared that the queen’s personal affection for her second son clouded her judgement. These voices say that it was in fact Charles and William who were the ruthless ones, with Charles leading the charge to expel his brother (whom he never particularly liked) from the working family and William laying down “him or me” ultimatums around Andrew’s involvement in events such as, say, the annual Garter Parade.
The queen, by contrast, made her own position very clear when she chose Andrew to escort her into a high-profile memorial service to mourn the death and celebrate the legacy of her late husband, Prince Philip.
The sight of Andrew leading her down the aisle by the hand was said to have stunned William in particular.
She is also said to have paid Andrew’s multi-million dollar court settlement with Virginia Giuffre (nee Roberts) who accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. Andrew never admitted guilt.
Now a new report has claimed that when allegations connected to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were first made against Andrew in 2015, the queen sough to brush them aside.
A report in the Daily Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column Wednesday claimed that “three senior members of the Royal Household” were blackballed after advising the queen to suspend Andrew from royal duties pending an investigation into the allegations.
“Ephraim Hardcastle” is a pseudonym; the anonymous column is written by senior editors on the basis of newsroom tips.
The column says the queen was “quite dismissive” of the allegations against Andrew and added that “three senior members of the Royal Household” who wrote to Elizabeth urging her to suspend Andrew “from royal duties pending a full inquiry” were sent “a curt reply conveying the royal displeasure from an assistant private secretary.”
The three were also pointedly not invited to the royal staff party that year.
The queen is also understood to have left Andrew a generous inheritance in her will.
The royal author Andrew Morton, who famously collaborated in secret with Princess Diana to write, Diana: Her True Story, previously told British newspaper the Mirror’s royal podcast, Pod Save the Queen, that Andrew was kept in the inner circle because he was “intensely loyal” to her.
Morton told the show: “Prince Andrew has always been absolutely loyal to his mother. He will never hear a word said against her, he has always been intensely loyal.”
Andrew’s role in coordinating a human chain of workers and volunteers who emptied Windsor Castle of its celebrated art collection within minutes of the outbreak of a 1992 fire, without which the art would have been destroyed, is also said to have earned him the lifelong gratitude of the queen.
