Politic?

Sordid Bedmates

"At no stage during the limited time I spent with [Epstein] did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction."
Duke of York

"The only way she [Ghislaine Maxwell] can walk is if she gives someone up, but that definitely won't be Andrew."
"She is so appreciative that when she first came to New York, the Duke helped to launch her into high society. She always talks about what a true friend he is. She doesn't see any reason to speak about him to the authorities."
"Ghislaine's always told me that Andrew's kind of stupid and naive and if there were girls in the house while he was there, he would have thought they were servants."
"All these people thinking he is evil are just wrong. He is just the kind of entitled person who sees everyone as a servant."
Laura Goldman New York stockbroker

British royal family poses for a photo to mark Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s 25th wedding anniversary | Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Surely Queen Elizabeth deserves better than what fate has doled out to her through her children and her grandchildren. No one deserves, in life, to be handed as many disappointments and shocks delivered through those they love making unconscionable moral choices of the type that this woman, stoic, practical and practised in the queenly arts of diplomacy and devotion to the public weal has suffered through. But no one chooses among various scenarios Dame Fortune has on offer as options.

Prince Andrew, Duke of York

The litany of events that make up one 'annus horribilis' after another for this doughty and gracious royal matriarch would make anyone blanche with sympathy, even those who have little use for the panoply of a royal tradition. But no one can control what other people are often wont to do, bringing down scorn as they shred their own reputations and in the process bring sadness and a diminution of public respect for the line from which they emanate.

No one ever claimed with even a scintilla of veracity that the House of Windsor breeds high intelligence. Integrity and dedication perhaps, but even that only in those who take their role in life as a highly visible and respected public figure seriously. All the smut and intrigue usually associated with fifth-rate television dramatic series with a view on the dim and dusky side of life, have erupted at one time or another within the British royal family. All borne by the long-suffering queen.

She must murmur to herself at times 'will this never end'? Her 60-year-old 'favourite' third-born has had quite the chequered lifestyle. But it seems reasonable at this juncture in her life to assume that she has finally thrown up her hands, deciding to cut him loose from royal duties. You are, after all, known by the company you keep and he has kept some pretty wretched company. A reflection of his own predilections in life.