Where’s the Duke’s sympathy for victims of paedophile pal?
IF you thought your January was tough going then spare a thought for Prince Andrew.
On second thoughts, don’t.
Or at least spare as much of a thought as he has seemingly ever expressed for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Because amid this tangled, sordid story of wealth and privilege sitting alongside paedophilia and abuse the most important voices – those at the very heart of it all – for so long silent and ignored are now being heard in court.
Few – least of all Prince Andrew – have spoken of their horror at what Epstein and Maxwell’s victims went through and what they surely must still be going through.
Even if Andrew is entirely innocent of the allegations laid in the civil case against him, if he was simply a gullible fool blind to what Epstein and his cronies were up to, why not show feeling and concern for the victims now?
The latest chapter in this grim saga played out this week as Andrew’s lawyers argued a $500,000 deal between Victoria Giuffre and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in effect shields the Duke from any liability. You will recall that Ms Giuffe is aiming to sue the Duke for alleged sexual assault when she was a teenager. He vehemently denies all the allegations.
Now you might argue that if you or I were accused of something we hadn’t done – even if it was just stealing a sweet from the pick ‘n’ mix – we’d be desperate to prove our innocence.
We would be moving mountains to clear our name. If we had the means – as the Queen’s son surely does – we’d be instructing top lawyers to fight tooth and nail to defend the civil case.
In the case of such serious allegations as those faced by Andrew, we could express our horror and sympathy with those who have truly suffered at Epstein and Maxwell’s hands. Expressions of sympathy do not mean admitting any liability Andrew! It is just the human and humane thing to do.
But he, it seems, has taken a different course, instead choosing to use a legal loophole concocted by a sex offender as a shield to hide behind. And to say not a word about the scores and scores of young victims groomed and trafficked and abused by his dead friend and that man’s now jailbird ex lover.
What of the Queen in all this? I wouldn’t dream of presuming to know how Her Majesty is feeling. She has always kept her own opinions resolutely on the down-low.
But given the woman is 95, recently widowed and has spent most of her life trying to keep the monarchy on an even keel, I am willing to bet she is exasperated at best, furious at worst and fearful that the long shadow cast by these terrible allegations will poison her Platinum Jubilee Year and the House of Windsor – after all, what one member of the Royal family does reflects on them all.
But there are other families, other mothers, caught up in all of this and their plight should be remembered.