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Kate Hawkesby: The Queen reportedly will retire soon - who can blame her?

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Mon, 2 Dec 2019, 10:12AM
The Queen will reportedly stand down in 18 months - she likely can't wait. (Photo / File)

Kate Hawkesby: The Queen reportedly will retire soon - who can blame her?

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Mon, 2 Dec 2019, 10:12AM

It seems that when the Queen cancelled Prince Andrew’s birthday party, she also cancelled Prince Andrew.

And if she didn’t, then the British press certainly are.

I wonder if when he looks back on his fateful decision to do that now infamous BBC interview, he imagines it could possibly have ended up here.

His daughter’s wedding scaled back, his royal standard unceremoniously pulled down, being stood down from public duties, charities bailing on you, businesses abandoning you, and now a newly published expose of all your questionable business activities and practices.

The insinuation around his business dealings are that those dealings are dodgy.

Dodgy in the sense the allegations are he "exploited" his taxpayer-funded role as Britain's trade envoy  to work behind the scenes for friends.

There are also allegations around Caribbean tax havens, wealthy tycoons paying down ex-wife Fergie’s debts and funding his extravagant lifestyle.

Prince Andrew’s behaviour’s been called “morally offensive”.  “A senior member of the Royal Family involved in offshore shenanigans,” as one politician called it.

There are even calls now for him to be stripped of his HRH title.

Yes, this is all about Andrew and what a mess he’s made of things, but I actually can’t help feeling sorry for the Queen in all of this. She’s the one whose worked so hard to be ‘the Crown’ all these years and to do the right thing.

She can’t help the behaviour of the Heir and the spare, both of whom have caused her grief over the years.

Having said that, that’s what children do, but most of us get to live that out in a way that isn’t splashed across the world’s front pages for months on end.

And tomorrow the BBC will air its interview with the woman in that photo with Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she was used as a sex slave and had sex with Prince Andrew three times.

So the poor Queen. This must be right up there with her Annus Horribilis. I don’t know how she does it.  If the rumours are true, she won’t be doing it for much longer however.

Prince Charles is allegedly taking over as Prince Regent in about 18 months, allowing her to retire.

Off the back of a year of Harry and Meghan’s dramas, and with one Royal author saying scathingly of her favourite son, “If Andrew’s no longer representing or supporting the monarch in any capacity, or doing good charitably, what's the point of him?”, I imagine those 18 months can’t come soon enough.

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