‘STRONG AS EVER’
Disgraced, dishonoured, discredited. There are not enough words in the dictionary to describe how lowly Prince Andrew is now held in the eyes of the British public following his friendship with dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The billionaire allegedly introduced him to Australian woman Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who says she was forced to have sex with the duke. He denies any wrongdoing, or meeting her, but only 6 per cent of Brits believed his version of events he offered up in his train wreck interview with the BBC’S Emily Maitlis. Mr Fitzwilliams said the interview was “cataclysmic” for the royals. “There are still a lot of questions for Prince Andrew, possible legal proceedings,” he said. “And being made to stand down from his royal duties, there are now 300-plus charities looking for a new patron.”
So much goodwill was flushed down the toilet when Harry and Meghan chose to launch legal action against the Mail on Sunday at the end of their tour of southern Africa. Prince Harry said the “painful” impact of intrusive media coverage had driven the couple to take action. They could have chosen better timing because it tarnished the good work they had done promoting women’s rights and environmental causes. The document had been filed for almost a week and nobody had noticed them. Harry’s admission that he and William were “on different paths” in a documentary with ITV’S Tom Bradby was a masterclass in faint praise and confirmed the months of reports of a rift. Ms Junor said the press wars and climate preaching had blighted what should have been a good year for new parents Harry and Meghan. “I feel sorry for Prince Harry because he seems lost at the moment,” she said. “He seems to be getting very bad advice … Meghan is a much stronger character than he is.”
Prince Philip’s Land Rover flipped as he entered a main road from a driveway in January. A woman driving a Kia and her passenger were taken to hospital but were released. There were reports a baby was inside the Kia. It took a public backlash to get the 97-yearold to apologise and he was seen two days after the incident driving again without a seatbelt. The seatbelt alarms on their posh cars had been disabled to make it easier to drive. Mr Fitzwilliams said the car crash was an ominous sign of the rotten royal year that followed. “The Duke of Edinburgh became the Duke of Hazard for a moment,” he said. “And to be seen days later driving without a seatbelt or a protection officer was not ideal. It was a sign of his indomitable spirit, to put it mildly.” Prince Philip ended up giving up driving three weeks after the crash.
The first rule of fight club is that no one talks about fight club. The same applies to the weekly meeting that the Queen has with the Prime Minister. David Cameron, a former Conservative leader, controversially leaked part of his chats with the Queen around the launch of his new book For The Record. The Queen was not amused.
Ms Junor said Mr Cameron’s gaffe was a sign of how powerful the Queen really is. “She’s not just a celebrity. She’s an incredibly important and powerful part of the construction of Britain,” she said. “I think the Queen might wield a lot of political power in those prime ministerial audiences.”
Netflix had turned the royal family’s life into a soap opera, well a little more so than in real life, according to the experts. They pushed the boundaries in the latest series, which – spoiler alert – suggests the Queen had had an affair. This has been rejected. And many royal watchers have scoffed at the suggestion that the late Queen Mother plotted to separate a young Charles and Camilla.
with
Contact: Terri Mitchell
Contact number: 4772 1192
Email: admin@townsville yachtclub.com.au
Website: townsvilleyachtclub.com.au
Address: 1 Plume St, South Townsville
Membership: Starts at $50 per year
all the time and the girls behind the bar and the staff are so lovely here and it is just a beautiful place to live.”
The owner of a 10-metre Hunter American yacht, Mr Shugg said he had been sailing since he was six years old and had called the Townsville Yacht Club his home for the past 50 years.
“I was living on the Hawkesbury River with my family and they bought me a canoe and I talked to my eldest brother about maybe getting a sail and a mast for it and that was the end of me,” he said.
“I was only 17 when I first came (to the yacht club) and now I am 67 and I’m still here, so that speaks for itself.
“There is never a dull moment, there is always something to do.”
The experienced skipper said the Townsville Yacht Club was not only his home but it was also his bread and butter in the ’ 80s and ’ 90s while he was working as a bar manager.
Mr Shugg said he loved the club for encompassing a vast variety of boat owners that all supported each other’s love for being out on the ocean.
“It is not only a sailing club, there are a lot of fishing boats here too including game fishing boats, bottom fishing boats, tinnies, trailer boats and of course big and small yachts,” he said.