Content warning: mentions of sexual assault.
If I was rich, powerful, bored, and reading the news last week, I’d make it my personal mission to fund the renewal of The Crown immediately. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested on his 66th birthday with no warning given to Buckingham Palace; that now-infamous photo in which he’s the spitting image of his father; King Charles releasing his official statement before promptly swanning off to London Fashion Week. The script writes itself.
Yet unsurprisingly, those who actually are rich, powerful, and bored are too often caught putting the resources at their disposal to far more sinister ends.
All that was really required of Andrew was to shuttle between royal residences, show up to cut a few ribbons, and put on a magnanimous front while doing it. That is not to say that royals can never have fulfilling roles or make meaningful contributions – in a utopian world that’s exactly where they would concentrate the bulk of their wealth and privilege – but Andrew could have gotten away with doing the bare minimum. A life of luxury, overindulgence, even hedonism likely would have brought him little punishment save for the occasional surge of well-founded backlash against the redundancy of the monarchy. And still he chose, despite presumably unfettered access to any number of elite contacts, to make Epstein his friend.
The arrest was made on suspicion of Andrew’s misconduct in public office, for allegedly sharing sensitive government documents with Epstein. But by not charging him for sexual abuse, and by implication of what is yet to be addressed, it has almost reinstituted the harrowing weight of Virginia Giuffre’s testimony. Though not in any way equivalent to holding him legally accountable for his sexual assault charges, the public disgrace and the discourse it has generated is at least a step in that direction.
With all eyes on the Palace in the aftermath, the King’s stern assertion that “the law must take its course” is a striking deviation from the usual unified, non-partisan front that the royals seek to uphold. In fact, if you squint, you could almost read it as a value judgement. It all makes him look pretty respectable – the War of the Waleses and Tampongate are by now distant memories, even more so when his brother is embroiled in acts of such inhuman cruelty as this.
But in a way, this response is as reticent as ever. The King still provides Andrew with a home at Sandringham, and the late Elizabeth II probably provided far more protection than that. The removal of Andrew’s titles and succession rights are effectively formalities; the main material impact is his eviction notice from the Royal Lodge (however will he cope with just five rooms instead of thirty?) and being cut off financially. It’s hardly as though he will find himself in prison, but – with the Mandelson arrest a case in point – one can only hope that the symbolic value of the arrest sets a precedent for the future. To double down on promises of public accountability and transparency is the least the Palace can do.
“The Duke of York in Belfast (cropped)” by Titanic Belfast is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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Andrew’s Arrest: What Now for the Crown?
Content warning: mentions of sexual assault.
If I was rich, powerful, bored, and reading the news last week, I’d make it my personal mission to fund the renewal of The Crown immediately. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested on his 66th birthday with no warning given to Buckingham Palace; that now-infamous photo in which he’s the spitting image of his father; King Charles releasing his official statement before promptly swanning off to London Fashion Week. The script writes itself.
Yet unsurprisingly, those who actually are rich, powerful, and bored are too often caught putting the resources at their disposal to far more sinister ends.
All that was really required of Andrew was to shuttle between royal residences, show up to cut a few ribbons, and put on a magnanimous front while doing it. That is not to say that royals can never have fulfilling roles or make meaningful contributions – in a utopian world that’s exactly where they would concentrate the bulk of their wealth and privilege – but Andrew could have gotten away with doing the bare minimum. A life of luxury, overindulgence, even hedonism likely would have brought him little punishment save for the occasional surge of well-founded backlash against the redundancy of the monarchy. And still he chose, despite presumably unfettered access to any number of elite contacts, to make Epstein his friend.
The arrest was made on suspicion of Andrew’s misconduct in public office, for allegedly sharing sensitive government documents with Epstein. But by not charging him for sexual abuse, and by implication of what is yet to be addressed, it has almost reinstituted the harrowing weight of Virginia Giuffre’s testimony. Though not in any way equivalent to holding him legally accountable for his sexual assault charges, the public disgrace and the discourse it has generated is at least a step in that direction.
With all eyes on the Palace in the aftermath, the King’s stern assertion that “the law must take its course” is a striking deviation from the usual unified, non-partisan front that the royals seek to uphold. In fact, if you squint, you could almost read it as a value judgement. It all makes him look pretty respectable – the War of the Waleses and Tampongate are by now distant memories, even more so when his brother is embroiled in acts of such inhuman cruelty as this.
But in a way, this response is as reticent as ever. The King still provides Andrew with a home at Sandringham, and the late Elizabeth II probably provided far more protection than that. The removal of Andrew’s titles and succession rights are effectively formalities; the main material impact is his eviction notice from the Royal Lodge (however will he cope with just five rooms instead of thirty?) and being cut off financially. It’s hardly as though he will find himself in prison, but – with the Mandelson arrest a case in point – one can only hope that the symbolic value of the arrest sets a precedent for the future. To double down on promises of public accountability and transparency is the least the Palace can do.
“The Duke of York in Belfast (cropped)” by Titanic Belfast is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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