Poor Queen Elizabeth II. It seems like a lot of her life is now dedicated to emergency meetings. First, she had the meeting regarding Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's decision to step away from their royal responsibilities. Now she needs to deal with Prince Andrew.
Prince Andrew has been in a lot of hot water recently, after it was revealed that he was friends with Jeffrey Epstein, known sex trafficker. Jeffrey reportedly died by suicide on August 10, 2019. People are still suspicious about his death, especially since he had ties with many high-level people.
According to the Independent, Prince Andrew has not been cooperating with the police in regard to the investigation. It's not a good look for anyone, especially someone who's part of the royal family. "To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation," prosecutor Geoffrey Berman said.
Prince Andrew has been accused of sleeping with a 17-year-old girl under Jeffrey's control named Virginia Giuffre. Now 36, Virginia has since come out and spoken about what happened that night, and the news seems horrifying. "It was a wicked time in my life," she said. "A really scary time in my life. I had just been abused by a member of the royal family. I wasn’t chained to a sink, but these powerful people were my chains. And I couldn’t comprehend how in the highest level of government powerful people were allowing this to happen. Not only allowing it to happen but participating in it."
"I implore the people in the UK to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being OK," she continued. "This is not some sordid sex story. This is a story of being trafficked. This is a story of abuse and this is a story of your … royalty."
So how did Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein meet? In 1999, they reportedly had a mutual friend in common — Ghislaine Maxwell. From there, they went on vacations together up until 2008. That year, Jeffrey admitted to prostituting minors and spent 18 months in jail — a sentence that's ridiculously short. You'd assume that when Prince Andrew found out about Jeffrey's conviction, he would have cut contact with Jeffrey.
However, they were spotted together once again in 2010. Photos were taken, which caused Prince Andrew to quit the position of UK trade envoy. After this, more terrible stories came out involving Prince Andrew sleeping with younger women without their full consent. At the time, Buckingham Palace tried hard to defend Andrew.
But it was difficult. It was obvious that he put himself in bad situations by hanging out with the wrong kinds of people. Andrew himself released a statement saying he was appalled by what Jeffrey did. "At no stage during the limited time I spent with him (Epstein) did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction," he said.
He also stands by the story that when they saw each other in 2010, he was simply trying to break off the friendship. Based on his failure to cooperate today, Queen Elizabeth II obviously knew that she'd have to interfere. According to Fox News, she asked to speak to Andrew to discuss "family matters."
Attorney Gloria Allred went on record to say that she'd try to subpoena Prince Andrew if he came to the United States. "Certainly, if he ever came back to the United States — that would be one of the first things that I’m sure a lot of lawyers, including me, would want to do,” she said, per Vanity Fair. “If he has done nothing wrong, which appears to be what he has claimed, then why won’t he talk to law enforcement?”
Some people are coming to Prince Andrew's defense, saying that the reason he hasn't been cooperating is because he hasn't been approached by the FBI yet. Hopefully, that's true — otherwise, he's making himself look very guilty. Plenty of sources believe that Queen Elizabeth and Andrew have a tight relationship, but it's doubtful she'd want to stand behind someone who refuses to cooperate with law enforcement.
In fact, a source told Page Six that Prince Andrew has been the Queen's "rock" since the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle news came out. "Andrew has been talking to her constantly on the phone and has now gone up to stay with her for a few days," the source said. "Behind the scenes we are talking about a family falling apart, and Andrew is doing his best to shore things up."
The relationship makes sense — Andrew is the Queen's son. She has four kids total — Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. It was always rumored that Andrew was her favorite. During her early days, she was able to spend the most time with him.
Town & Country reports that Anne developed a good relationship with her mother later on, when they both had horseback riding in common. "Princess Anne and the Princes Andrew and Edward have all made public their disagreement with Charles in his criticism of the parenting they received," a source said. "With her love of horses, Anne developed an especially close relationship with her mother during her teenage years, giving her advice about fashion and clothes."
The Queen took a 10-year break in between having Anne and Andrew. That break allowed her to gain confidence as Queen, thus giving her more time to dedicate to the family. She's likely heartbroken over these allegations — especially since they're so disturbing.
When too many people were focusing on his friendship with Jeffrey, Prince Andrew stepped down from royal duties. It's a decision that might have been forced on him, based on the bad press. "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," he stated. "I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein."
In comparison, the news of Meghan and Harry splitting away from the family seems tame. It's awful to think that a member of the royal family would have participated in this type of abuse. However, the women who've told these stories have nothing to gain. It can be intimidating to go against someone so powerful.
Hopefully, the Queen remembers that. While Andrew may be her son, it's possible that he violated young women. The least he could do is participate with the investigation. Hopefully, the Queen has worked out a plan or at least a statement in regard to his poor choice of actions.
