{"id":135700,"date":"2019-11-17T00:26:51","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T00:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/debate\/article-7693409\/ANGELA-LEVIN-DID-Royal-Family-come-this.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ito=1490&ns_campaign=1490"},"modified":"2019-11-17T00:26:51","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T00:26:51","slug":"angela-levin-how-did-our-royal-family-come-to-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/so\/angela-levin-how-did-our-royal-family-come-to-this\/","title":{"rendered":"ANGELA LEVIN: How DID our Royal Family come to this?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which of us would have imagined gathering round our television sets on a Saturday evening to watch the Queen\u2019s second son squirming and dissembling as he\u2019s grilled about his friendship with a convicted paedophile?<\/p>\n

We thought Princess Diana<\/a>\u2019s tearful interview about the state of her marriage to Prince Charles<\/a> was shocking. But Andrew\u2019s appearance on the BBC2 Newsnight special with Emily Maitlis was a whole new low for the Royal Family<\/a>. How could it have come to this?<\/p>\n

If the intention was to shut down, once and for all, the speculation over the Prince\u2019s relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein then it was a catastrophic failure. If it was shameful for a senior Royal to be taking part in such a charade, then it was also deeply embarrassing to watch.<\/p>\n

He stumbled over limp, unconvincing excuses, demonstrated a startling lack of self-awareness and \u2013 most damningly of all \u2013 displayed an astonishing lack of empathy for Epstein\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"If<\/div>\n

\"If<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If the intention was to shut down, once and for all, the speculation over the Prince\u2019s relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein then it was a catastrophic failure<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sitting ramrod straight, Andrew looked completely out of his depth, a defeated man. Was the panic-stricken expression a plea for public sympathy? He will have gained almost none. There was little humility and not much humanity, either.<\/p>\n

One critical moment told us everything we need to know about the man. Ms Maitlis, with deftly polite professionalism, pressed him on whether or not he had sex with Virginia Roberts Giuffre in 2001 when she was only 17.<\/p>\n

He batted the question away, blustering that he had \u2018no recollection\u2019 of even meeting her.<\/p>\n

Undeterred, Ms Maitlis tried again \u2013 and this time his reply spoke volumes.<\/p>\n

\u2018No,\u2019 he retorted. \u2018And without putting too fine a point on it, if you\u2019re a man it is a positive act to have sex with somebody… it\u2019s very difficult to try to forget positive action and I do not remember anything.\u2019<\/p>\n

This casual remark, tasteless and dismissive, demonstrates with clarity just how inarticulate and lacking in self-awareness the Prince truly is.<\/p>\n

Andrew\u2019s performance for the cameras was, as might have been predicted, maladroit.<\/p>\n

But his awkward demeanour should not divert us from the more important fact that he failed to acknowledge, let alone answer, the important questions facing him. He struck false note after deafening false note.<\/p>\n

How could he describe Epstein\u2019s behaviour as no more than \u2018unbecoming\u2019? Or say that Epstein\u2019s New York mansion was merely \u2018a convenient place to stay\u2019?<\/p>\n

He had no idea of about Epstein\u2019s true character, he claimed, because \u2018I was transitioning out of the Navy\u2019. His visit to Epstein on the paedophile\u2019s release from jail had \u2013 apparently\u2013 demonstrated \u2018leadership\u2019. I lost count of the number of times he contradicted himself or gave a strange or unintelligible answer.<\/p>\n

There were numerous reminders, to, of the strange and rarefied world he occupies, such as when he described socialising with Epstein at \u2018a shooting weekend. Just a straightforward, a straightforward shooting weekend\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Andrew\u2019s<\/div>\n

\"Andrew\u2019s<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Andrew\u2019s performance for the cameras was, as might have been predicted, maladroit<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And again as he tried to explain his striking lack of curiosity when staying at Epstein\u2019s home which, it would later emerge, had a constant stream of young women drifting in and out.<\/p>\n

\u2018I live in an institution at Buckingham Palace which has members of staff walking around all the time and, I don\u2019t wish to appear grand, but here were a lot of people who were walking around Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

\u2018As far as I was aware, they were staff.\u2019<\/p>\n

THAT the Prince was driven to undertake last night\u2019s lorry crash of an interview only serves to show how stubbornly the questions over his links with Epstein have remained and the gravity of the situation in which he finds himself.<\/p>\n

The fact is that, as the Queen\u2019s favourite child, he has been indulged. And both the Queen and Andrew\u2019s ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, continue to shower him with praise when criticism would be more appropriate. He is prisoner inside his own bubble of entitlement and self-regard.<\/p>\n

Sarah yesterday described him \u2013 improbably \u2013 as \u2018a true and real gentleman\u2019 and a \u2018giant of a principled man\u2019.<\/p>\n

But she has her own reasons for keeping in with a former husband who persuaded Epstein to cough up to \u00a315,000 to help her deal with her debts.<\/p>\n

As to the Prince\u2019s claim to have \u2018no recollection whatsoever\u2019 of meeting Virginia, I am not surprised. She has insisted \u2013 in court documents lodged in the US -\u2013 that she had sex with Andrew on three occasions while a \u2018sex slave\u2019 for Epstein.<\/p>\n

IS it plausible that Andrew simply doesn\u2019t remember the encounter? Sadly, yes. Unfortunately, there are still men in the world who see women purely in sexual terms.<\/p>\n

It seems unlikely she would have left much of a mark in his mind or that they would have spoken in depth about golf, his true passion, for example.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is hard for the Royals to make real friends.<\/p>\n

Prince Harry told me himself how difficult he found it to trust people, which was why he was so close to William. But this is no excuse for the fact that so many senior Royals behave badly despite \u2013 or perhaps because of \u2013 their lives of wealth and privilege. They are cosseted and indulged.<\/p>\n

It is understood that Andrew\u2019s advisers felt there was no choice but to try to clear the air with an interview. But they must surely be regretting that decision now.<\/p>\n

This has been destructive not just for Andrew but for the entire Royal Family.<\/p>\n

How, he was asked, would he move on from this?<\/p>\n

The answer, he replied, was by \u2018carrying on with what I do. I have a number of things that I have been doing since 2011,\u2019 he continued. \u2018They\u2019re pretty well organised, pretty successful.\u2019<\/p>\n

In other words, he simply has no clue.<\/p>\n

Thank goodness Prince Andrew no longer has any realistic chance of occupying the throne.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which of us would have imagined gathering round our television sets on a Saturday evening to watch the Queen\u2019s second son squirming and dissembling as he\u2019s grilled about his friendship with a convicted paedophile? We thought Princess Diana\u2019s tearful interview about the state of her marriage to Prince Charles was shocking. But Andrew\u2019s appearance on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10221280388112155_325455220908133":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-news"],"yoast_head":"\nANGELA LEVIN: How DID our Royal Family come to this?\u00a0 - Wardoon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/so\/angela-levin-how-did-our-royal-family-come-to-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ANGELA LEVIN: How DID our Royal Family come to this?\u00a0 - Wardoon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Which of us would have imagined gathering round our television sets on a Saturday evening to watch the Queen\u2019s second son squirming and dissembling as he\u2019s grilled about his friendship with a convicted paedophile? 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