The Olympics are over. Normal broadcasting services have resumed. While seventy per cent of Australians stare at the four walls in home detention, there are slim entertainment pickings available.
But wait, there’s another royal scandal looming and this one is a biggie. As an avowed republican I fear to watch yet I cannot look away.
Actually, it’s been a scandal for several years now, but the temperature has picked up several degrees centigrade this week with a civil suit filed in New York alleging the Duke of York, Prince Andrew sexually assaulted a minor in and around 2001.
The alleged victim, Virginia Giuffre, filed the suit in New York this week seeking damages. She is suing the Duke for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17, claiming that she was brought to the UK by the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the man who currently stands eighth in order of succession to the throne.
On Thursday, The Times reported sources close to Andrew’s brother, the Prince of Wales that Andrew would never return to public life and resume public duties, regardless of what might transpire as a result of Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit.
If the Duke of York was sent on a metaphorical journey to Coventry, the first question is how would we know the difference?
The Duke of York, Prince Andrew, is currently in Balmoral with his ex-wife, the elite level royal grifter, the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and his mum, the Queen. It is possible he is being fitted for an iron mask. We can’t be sure.
Prince Andrew’s last public appearance occurred after the death of his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Phillip.
Andrew broke his almost Trappist-like silence during the funeral ceremony for his father and briefly addressed the media.
This led to an amusing tweet reportedly from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s official Twitter account which noted Andrew’s remarks and replied, “Ooh, is he doing interviews now?”
These are weird days indeed when the FBI wins the internet. The FBI is not usually known for its japery. And so it transpired. FBI fingers did not eviscerate Andrew by savage tweet. Rather, it was a piece of amusing mockery put together by a British wag.
You just can’t trust social media anymore.
Hasn’t co-operated
The point remains that despite his frequently stated commitments to assist authorities whenever and wherever, Andrew has not co-operated with the FBI or any other investigative body examining the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein. There has been no attempt to provide a statement to the FBI who continues to investigate the tangled mess of allegations surrounding Andrew’s now deceased buddy.
Andrew and his lawyers are presumably aware that lying to the FBI is a felony.
His oft-repeated commitment to assist the FBI was restated during an interview on BBC’s Newsnight program in November 2019. The hour long question and answer exercise was widely regarded as a train wreck of seismic dimensions, a multiple carriage collision and catastrophic derailment with rolling stock bursting into flames before squashing a bevy of baby sea otters.
That was almost two years ago and still the FBI waits, pencils poised, ready to take a statement from the Duke of York.
The Maxwell factor
Where will it end? Well, it will at least in part be defined by another matter beyond the control of the House of Windsor — the trial in the state of New York of Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell is facing six federal charges including enticement of minors, sex trafficking of minors and perjury. Her trial is set to commence in November.
The world waits with breath firmly bated as to how Maxwell will plead and whether she will co-operate with authorities to seek a plea bargain. The early indications are that Maxwell will tough it out and keep her mouth firmly shut.
It’s admirable in a way. In the absence of a guilty plea, a head bowed moment of contrition and a plea bargain for some breezy time on a federal prison farm, Ghislaine Maxwell is facing the prospect of being a no show on the Manhattan party circuit for the next 85 years.
There are also said to be video tapes, but no one is quite sure who has possession of what. What we do know is that Epstein’s multimillion dollar townhouse in Manhattan contained a voyeur’s delight of hidden cameras and may well have caught any number of celebrities in flagrante delicto.
In a bizarre turn of events earlier this week, friends of Maxwell reported the 59-year-old former partner of Jeffrey Epstein could volunteer to assist the Duke of York in his defence. Obviously, that would depend on the outcome of her trial. There may be one or two credibility issues if Maxwell were to be found guilty.
While it is almost impossible not to be transfixed by the growing scandal, it also highlights the inherent problem with monarchies. A head of state is not determined by merit, talent, or ability but by the dumb luck of the circumstances of one’s birth. There are no filters. Instead, a head of state is defined as a child who managed to be the first one out of the blocks, so to speak.
In other words, for every Elizabeth II there is an Edward VIII. For every regal heart pure of motive and intent, there is another wracked with syphilis and wretched excess.
Maybe that’s what keeps us coming back for more. The House of Windsor, as with any monarchy, is a crapshoot, a roll of the genetic dice.
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