CANADA ENDS TIES TO PRINCE ANDREW
Private school, Sickkids charity cut him loose
An exclusive Ontario private school is cutting ties with Prince Andrew — sort of — in the wake of a disastrous BBC interview on his relationship with sexual predator Jeffery Epstein.
Meanwhile, the Sickkids Foundation, one of Toronto’s most prestigious charities, announced Thursday that the prince would no longer serve as its honorary patron.
The Queen’s increasingly disgraced younger son attended Lakefield College School, near Peterborough, Ont., for six months in 1977. He has been deeply involved in the institution in the decades since, serving as a trustee since at least 2008 and, since 2013, as the honorary chair of the school’s foundation board.
On Thursday, Anne-marie Kee, Lakefield’s head of school, said that at least part of that relationship would be ending.
“Prince Andrew has been a long-time champion of Lakefield College School,” she wrote. “His term as Honorary Chair of the LCS Foundation is expiring. The school’s proactive governance process has activated an already established succession plan. We thank him for his support.”
When asked to clarify when the prince’s term would end, she replied, “now.”
Kee would not say whether the decision to remove Prince Andrew as honourary chair was related to the Epstein scandal. She did not initially respond when asked whether the prince, whose formal title is His Royal Highness, Duke of York, would remain a Lakefield trustee or the patron of the Friends of Lakefield College School, a related charity.
As of Thursday morning, all three titles — chair, trustee and patron — remained on the prince’s official website. However, sometime between late Wednesday afternoon and early Thursday morning, after the National Post enquired about his relationship to the school, Prince Andrew’s photograph and biography were stripped from the Lakefield Foundation website.
In a followup email after the story was published online, Kee objected to the notion that she had refused to answer any questions. She did not address the Epstein point specifically, but did say that this marked the end of the prince’s “natural term” as chair.
When asked if it is customary for board terms to expire in the middle of November, Kee replied:
“The Duke took over officially for the 2013/14 school year in the fall. This is not an atypical term for an honorary chair. As previously stated we have identified our new incoming chair, and are in the process of installing him per governance procedures.”
On the question of Prince Andrew’s continued involvement with the school, Kee wrote: “This is a moot point as the Duke has stepped down from public service.” As to a run named in his honour, she replied: “The best interests of our students are at the core of all of our decision-making. All of these matters are under review.”
Prince Andrew’s ties to Lakefield, where, according to People, he earned the nickname “Randy Andy,” were controversial even before the Epstein allegations came to light. In 2017, Maclean’s
published an investigation that revealed the prince’s close relationship at the school to Keith Gleed, an Anglican priest and Lakefield chaplain.
The prince invited Gleed to his 21st birthday party in England and to his wedding to Sarah Ferguson in 1986. In 2001, he visited the dying priest in hospital and, in 2008, he donated a handcarved baptismal font to Lakefield in Gleed’s honour.
According to the Maclean’s story, the publicity around that gift prompted at least one former Lakefield student to come forward alleging Gleed had sexually assaulted him while at the school. At least five former students later made similar allegations.
“Lakefield’s own independent investigators concluded in 2015 that the disgraced chaplain violated ‘the trust and authority’ of his position and ‘afflicted harm on innocent students by engaging in sexual misconduct,’” Maclean’s reported.
A spokesman for the Royal Family did not reply to a request for comment.
On Wednesday, the prince announced he was stepping back from public duties, days after his baffling interview with the BBC.
“It has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support,” the statement said.
Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s alleged victims, says she was forced by the now-dead financier and predator to have sex with the much older prince three times, beginning when she was 17. The Royal Family has always denied the allegations. In his BBC interview, the prince denied ever meeting Giuffre. He claimed her vivid recollection of dancing with the sweaty royal could not have happened because he was, thanks to a war fright, incapable of sweating.
Until this week, Prince Andrew had been the patron of several Canadian charities, including the Sickkids Foundation and the Canadian Canoe Museum. On Thursday, however, Sickkids — the fundraising arm of Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children — announced that that relationship was over.
“As you will have seen, His Royal Highness issued a statement Wednesday declaring he is stepping down from all public duties. We believe this was important and appropriate for him to do. With that announcement, His Royal Highness is no longer in the role of Royal Patron to Sickkids,” Sandra Chiovitti, the foundation’s chief director of public relations, wrote in an email. “Prior to the announcement, the matter was to be discussed at a board meeting on Monday where we would seek our board’s counsel. Now it will be addressed to ensure our board is aware of what has transpired.”
A spokesman for the canoe museum said Wednesday that the organization’s board of directors “is closely monitoring the situation surrounding the Duke and will make decisions in keeping with the values of our organization.” Prince Andrew is a noted canoe enthusiast.
Also on Wednesday, the Rideau Hall Foundation, announced that it would not renew its partnership Pitch@palace, the prince’s innovation charity.