Called to account

Palace flunkies breathed a collective sigh of relief when the royals were cleared of using any taxpayer cash to settle the Andrew sex case.

A freedom of information request from a national newspaper brought government confirmation that none of the £12m plus given to Virginia Giuffre and her charity came out of public funds.

We now know that Andrew was partially bailed out by private funds from both the Queen and Prince Charles, but surely it would have been better PR if the Palace had been more transparent from the outset?