Things are pretty bad when a prince has to sneak around the palace grounds like a thief in the night.
Of course, Prince Andrew’s situation is about as bad as it can get. The sexual assault lawsuit brought against him by Virginia Giuffre was so damaging that Queen Elizabeth stripped him of all his royal and military titles. Plus, his brother Prince Charles ordered him to stay “out of sight” and stop being “photographed every other day looking happy and waving as he is driven to the castle.”
Related: Charles’ Charity Under Investigation Over Alleged Cash-For-Honours Scheme
How’s a man to visit his momma, then? Especially when he needs her financial assistance to settle the aforementioned lawsuit? According to The Sun, the Duke of York was driven to Windsor Castle every night last week to discuss the settlement and his future role in the Royal Family.
A source told the outlet:
“Andrew has been very careful and is trying to keep out of sight. He knows there are photographers in the daytime and his best chance to avoid them is after dark. He knows he is meant to be keeping his head down and it’s a short trip, but he is extremely contrite and apologized to the Queen for all the trouble he has caused her.”
They added:
“He realizes how serious this whole issue has been and the damage it has done to the monarchy. The last thing he wanted to do was cause his beloved mother so much anguish at her age and in her Platinum Jubilee year. He is just so grateful for her support and it’s certainly true that the Queen has a soft spot for Andrew and regards him as her favorite son.”
That soft spot is so soft that the monarch supposedly paid off most of the reported $16 million settlement. Sheesh. But his mum isn’t the only person Andrew needed to apologize to, another source said:
“He has also said sorry to Beatrice and Eugenie and voiced his fears that their children would grow up hearing about the case.”
Unfortunately for him, when your indiscretions (to put it lightly) are a matter of historical record, your grandchildren are pretty likely to find out. Especially if he continues to be iced out of the Royal Fam, which is a strong possibility. According to The Sun, the military vet will attend an upcoming thanksgiving service for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey, after which the Queen “will decide whether he can attend future ‘family’ events based on how much of a distraction he proves to be.”
Meanwhile, there have been rumblings that Prince William and Kate Middleton will be moved into Andrew’s home at the Royal Lodge, while he and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will be sent to Fort Belvedere “on the edge of the estate.” (Exiled to the edge of the estate… how very tragic!)
The Sun hinted that the 62-year-old might even be considering an even further move across the pond. Royal expert Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine, claimed:
“I have heard from a very good source that Andrew did think he could reinvent himself like Prince Harry has.”
Umm, Harry hasn’t been accused of any sex crimes, so his US move didn’t actually require that much “reinvention.” But apparently the duke has sought advice from his nephew regardless. A Sun source dished:
“Andrew has been in turmoil about the whole thing. And one thing he has done is reach out to Harry about life outside ‘The Firm’ and things like security and what he can do in the future. He has seen how Harry has managed to carve out a new life for himself away from the Royal Family.”
Again… Harry’s situation could not be more different than Andrew’s, but maybe he would have some good pointers for his uncle anyway. (Though we can’t imagine he and Meghan Markle would want to get involved in Andrew’s mess.)
Related: Harry & Meghan May Not Attend Philip’s Memorial Due To Security Concerns
It does make sense the father of two would want to get away from all the scrutiny, though. The Sunday Times reported that palace aides have been mocking the prince’s situation with revised nursery rhymes:
“The grand old Duke of York, he had 12million quid. He gave it to someone he’d never met, for something he never did.”
Pretty savage! But also a weirdly fitting burn for the man who obsessively collects teddy bears. And BTW, some sources are claiming that the “12 million quid” number is actually “out by millions,” per The Times. Understandably, Andrew is feeling “genuine regret he was ever involved with Epstein.”
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens to Andrew now that the lawsuit is off the table. But since the Queen was recently diagnosed with coronavirus, we imagine he won’t be doing much sneaking into Windsor in the middle of the night for the time being.
[Image via MEGA/WENN]
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