A ROYAL OUTCAST
The Perpetual Downfall + Banishment of Prince Andrew
The British Royal family has had its fair share of blunders, but Prince Andrew’s fall from grace amid a sex-trafficking scandal is ruinous, to say the least. Not since Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson has a royal been forced to step down and forgo all royal duties. Prince Andrew’s ouster came just days after a disastrous interview on BBC in November 2019. His intent was to clarify his ties with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and quell speculations that he had sex with a teenage girl he met through an arrangement made by Epstein. The interview was the biggest public relations nightmare for the British royal family since the maelstrom that followed the callous mishandling of Princess Diana’s death in 1997.
The Duke of York insists it was his decision to step down. “My former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support. Therefore, I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future and she has given her permission,” Prince Andrew said in a statement. However, royal insiders maintain it was Queen Elizabeth and his brother, Prince Charles who tossed the beleaguered prince out of Buckingham Palace and stripped him of his duties.
This was not the first brush with controversy and scandal for Queen Elizabeth’s third child. In an interview, Catherine Mayer, author of Charles: Heart of a King said that Prince Andrew, “very quickly went from being a sort of bachelor prince to being somebody who has no use, no purpose, spends money too obviously, takes too many flights, gets his bad nickname, gets married, gets divorced.” His 10-year-marriage to Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York made for tantalizing headlines. They divorced amid rumors of the duchess’s infidelity, but remain close friends. In fact, they still live together, even after Fergie was busted for selling access to her ex-husband for 500,000 pounds (about $700,000). The scandalous video of her trying to make a deal with an undercover journalist posing as a businessman was posted on the British tabloid News of the World website.
In season 4 of the Netflix series The Crown, Prince Andrew is introduced as an offensive, crude and arrogant young man. In an episode called “Favourites,” the Queen arranges lunches with each of her four children to figure out if she has a favorite. Prince Andrew arrives at the luncheon by helicopter, shares a fart joke with his mother, and tells her about his “latest one.” He describes a film his girlfriend recently starred in that “follows an impressionable, nubile 17-year-old girl” who meets “several twisted and perverted older predators.” The Queen asks her son if the film was legal and he responds, “Who cares?” While the show moves between fact and fiction, the lunch date with the Queen seems to be a commentary on the real-life Prince Andrew.
In his resignation statement Prince Andrew said, ”Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required.” To date, he has not. Last February, attorney Gloria Allred, who represents several of Epstein’s victims, sent a yellow school bus to circle Buckingham Palace. The bus was draped with a banner featuring a photo of the prince and the striking message: “If you see this man please ask him to call the FBI to answer their questions.”
Andrew spent the last year isolating with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, at Royal Lodge, the Windsor home they share. In July, his daughter Princess Beatrice was married and the father of the bride was not included in the official wedding portraits released by Buckingham Palace. While his removal from public life was swift, turbulent times are still ahead for him and the royal family. Ghislaine Maxwell, the ex-girlfriend of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been charged with enticement of minors, sex trafficking of children, and perjury. She awaits her July 2021 trial in jail. If Maxwell ties Andrew to the Epstein case and whether the British monarch will cooperate with law enforcement, remains to be seen. No matter how Buckingham Palace spins the story, Prince Andrew will not likely make a comeback or live happily ever after.
