There's no questioning that the royal family is calculated. Decisions in The Firm are not made on the fly. There are centuries and generations of tradition and protocol that are taken into consideration when making any given plan.
It's for that reason that people were irritated to see Prince Andrew escorting Queen Elizabeth into the memorial service held for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey on March 29. The Queen's attendance in itself was uncertain, as concerns about her mobility continue. Now reports indicate that the Queen "insisted" on Prince Andrew coming with her.
Of course, its not completely outside the realm of normalcy for him to be at a memorial service for his father. Still, his centering after the royal family has gone through lengths to distance themselves from the Duke of York's various scandals and recent sexual misconduct settlement is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of many.
Fans of the royal family were relieved to see Queen Elizabeth in attendance at the memorial service held for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey. That relief turned to outrage for some folks, however, when they realized she'd chosen Prince Andrew to be her escort for the event.
It would be wrong to begrudge the Duke of York his attendance at an event honoring his late father, but his centering there seems like an interesting and possibly deliberate move on the Queen's part. His public appearance, after vocally stepping back from public life, comes six weeks after a settlement with Virginia Giuffre in a sexual assault lawsuit that the palace made a statement distancing the royal family from.
Some royal experts believe that the Queen took this opportunity to show unwavering support for her son, even though he has stepped back from public life and lost his titles and patronages.
"It shows she wholeheartedly loves and believes her son," royal commentator Robert Jobson told People.
"As she did when she made a statement about Camilla being Queen's Consort, many people will now accept the Queen's word and judgment."
It's said that the Queen "insisted" on Andrew escorting her despite some objections from other senior royals.
"It does make some sense that he accompany her because he doesn't have a partner. A settlement has been paid but he's guilty of nothing in the eyes of the law," he adds.
"She has faith in Andrew. Even if he disappears from public life, he's been able to pay tribute to his father, who after all, was very proud of his service in the Royal Navy, where he fought in the Falkland Islands conflict."
The Queen's public attendance at the event was the first time she's been seen outside the palace since October 2021. Special arrangements were made for the 95-year-old to attend, including letting her in one of the side doors instead of making her walk the length of the aisle. She walked in with Andrew supporting her on one side and a cane in her other hand.
During the service, the Queen sat with the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, and the Princess Royal. Andrew sat across the aisle with Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Andrew's daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, were also in attendance with their husbands, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank.
The Queen was responsible for many of the little details that honored Prince Philip at the service. The floral arrangements included white dendrobium orchids, which were part of Queen Elizabeth's wedding bouquet in 1947, and sea holly, which echoes the Duke of Edinburgh's career in the Navy and a lifelong love of the sea.
During the service, the Dean of Windsor remembered the Duke of Edinburgh as a real person who wasn't swept up in the grandeur of his life.
"He would hate to think that I should paint a picture of him as a 'plaster saint;' someone without the usual human foibles and failings," he said.
"He was far too self-aware ever to be taken in by flattery."
"Like the rest of us, he was part of flawed humanity. Unlike most of us, however, he was one of those rare people who remained true to, and guided by, what you might call 'an inner spiritual compass;' a sense of being called to play a part in the making of a God-intended world," he later continued.
"As we give thanks for the life of a remarkable man, perhaps our greatest tribute to him, most especially in these far too troubled times, will be for us to accept the challenge, implicit in his life, to rekindle in our hearts something of that call, and to pray (as I think he did) for the inspiration and the guidance to play our part, however small, in working for a kinder future."
There's been a lot of discussion around the future of the monarchy and what it will look like for generations to come. Many suspect that those generations will be outraged at the lengths the royals have gone to in order to protect Andrew. What they cannot protect him or themselves from, however, is scrutiny around their decisions.
