Andy pulls plug on Royal duties
PAEDO ROW PRINCE QUITS 10&11
PRINCE Andrew withdrew from public life last night after making a grovelling apology to the Queen over his controversial friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Duke of York was summoned to an emergency meeting at Buckingham Palace, where he was told the avalanche of protests from big business and charities made his position untenable.
Senior aides told Andrew the furore over his appearance on BBC Newsnight and his shameful excuses for choosing to stay at sex offender Epstein’s house meant he was damaging the oyal family.
The humiliated duke spoke to his 93-year-old mother, appealing for forgiveness over what some observers see as one of the most damaging episodes for the Crown in modern history.
And questions now remain over whether Andrew will lose his taxpayer-funded office, which he receives £249,000 to run.
A highly-placed source said: “Andrew had no alternative but to relinquish all his duties in the public arena while so many devastating revelations were being made about his relationship with Epstein.
“He knew he couldn’t carry on but also
BY RUSSELL MYERS felt overwhelmingly that he has made terrible mistakes that were reflecting badly on the Queen as the head of the royal household.
“Since his interview with Emily Maitlis was broadcast on Saturday, he has been in a state of paralysis, worrying about not only the effect on the family but also knowing his royal position was going to have to be massively undermined for the foreseeable future.”
Andrew is also understood to receive large amounts of cash from the Queen’s personal income from the Duchy of Lancaster, which made profits of more than £21million last year.
His private secretary Amanda Thirsk’s job also potentially hangs in the balance after numerous reports she was the catalyst behind convincing Andrew to do the fateful interview.
A cloud of uncertainty now exists over Andrew’s eldest daughter Beatrice’s planned wedding next year. Royal sources suggested she would now almost be forced into having “a private wedding, in a castle or even abroad, away from publicity”.
Amid a cascade of global business
giants and educational institutions around the world queuing up to drop him, the killer blow was landed yesterday by telecoms giant BT.
It called for Andrew to be removed as patron of iDEA – The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award – a programme which helps develop digital enterprise and employability skills.
A BT spokesman said: “In light of recent developments, we are reviewing our relationship with the organisation and hope we might be able to work further with them, in the event of a change in their patronage.”
Buckingham Palace said the duke was still the patron of iDEA and there was nothing to add on the matter. But within hours, they issued a bombshell statement where Andrew for the first time explicitly said he would help law enforcement agencies investigating Epstein’s sick crimes.
The duke’s statement read: “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 organisations and charities that I am proud to support.
“Therefore, I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, and she has given her permission. I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein.
“His suicide has left many unanswered questions, particularly for his victims, and I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure.
“I can only hope that, in time, they will be able to rebuild their lives. Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.”
Despite the crisis, the Queen was all smiles last night as she presented her old friend Sir
David Attenborough with a top international award – arriving just 24 minutes after her son made his explosive announcement.
Social historian Professor Judith Rowbotham compared the developments to the abdication of Edward VIII.
She said: “I suppose the nearest would be the Duke of Windsor in some way. There are plenty of parallels there.”
A growing number of multi-million-pound businesses, universities and charities have severed ties with the duke since the interview. And more organisations are considering ditching their involvement with Andrew despite him deciding to exit from public life.
Outward Bound and the British Exploring Society are to hold special board meetings to discuss the situation.
The Jubilee Sailing Trust is understood to be reviewing the duke’s patronage at a meeting next month. Youth charities Positive2 and the Golf Foundation said they were “monitoring the situation closely”.
Banking giant Barclays yesterday also led calls from high-profile organisations distancing themselves from the embattled duke.
The banking giant threatened to cancel its involvement with Pitch@Palace, saying it was concerned about the situation and is keeping its involvement under review.
At least three universities in Australia and two in the UK either ended their relationship with Pitch@Palace or said they were under emergency review.
Andrew had been accused of showing a lack of empathy towards Epstein’s victims and a lack of remorse over his friendship with the disgraced financier, who took his own life while in prison earlier this year.
Andrew had no alternative but to relinquish his duties ROYAL SOURCE ON PRINCE ANDREW’S PUBLIC REMOVAL