No one knows what other reputational horrors await
Prince Andrew is the perfect PR storm for the British monarchy.
A senior royal with seemingly no personal or professional judgment who has – apparently, allegedly, arguably (he denies all wrongdoing) – lied about his past activities linked to the serial paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
A taxpayer-funded bon viveur who, it seems, either does not know or will not say what further damaging material is still out there waiting to be revealed.
A man who – most frustratingly for King Charles and the Buckingham Palace comms unit – still appears to believe his own deluded hype.
And, to send blood pressures through the roof, legally he can’t be turfed out of a 30-room mansion he lives in pretty much free of charge.
Cringeworthy public moments
The royal household wants Andrew to vanish into the shadows. They’ve made every effort to make this so, albeit with mixed results. Recent PR fails include achingly awkward clips of Andrew edging front and centre of a royal family appearance to exchange pleasantries with his visibly cringing nephew, William, heir to the throne.
Andrew, however, sees things differently. His belief in his own ability to restore his reputation remains strong. But before we look at that, a quick recap …
‘A straightforward shooting weekend’
In 2019, to quell growing noise about his involvement with Epstein, Andrew appeared on BBC Newsnight for “that” interview with Emily Maitliss.
The ensuing train wreck gave us such timeless classics as “just a straightforward shooting weekend” and “I could not sweat.”
Instead of getting better, things got worse, and public anger increased.
In 2022, Andrew paid an out-of-court settlement rumoured to be $12m to Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of his and Epstein’s alleged victims, after she brought a civil case against him. Guiffre took her life earlier this year.
Her book, “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice,” has just been released posthumously. It details three occasions when Andrew allegedly had sex with her.
Emails with Epstein
Back to the present. Recently, emails emerged showing Andrew was communicating with Epstein in 2011, despite his claims to have broken off all contact in 2010.
“Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon” is one stomach-churning line from one of Andrew’s missives to Epstein.
The Mail on Sunday reported this month that Andrew had asked his police close protection team to investigate Guiffre in 2011, even down to the detail of sharing her US social security number and suggesting she may have some criminal past (unfounded). This despite his Newsnight denial, eight years later, of ever having met her.
Andrew’s account doesn’t stack up
Cue Andrew, belief in his crisis comms skills undimmed, entering stage left to put things right. He renounced various titles – albeit not the one he was born with: “prince” – in the belief that it would calm the growing disquiet.
Lo and behold, instead of getting better, things have again got worse.
De-princing Andrew would mean headlines get worse before they get better
As well as calling for him to be evicted from the Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park (can’t happen – he’s got a peppercorn lease until 2078), MPs are urging the King to de-prince his brother.
This is a process that would require parliamentary time for a vote. Were that to happen, and it may yet, global news media would go berserk, and the royal firm understandably does not want that. So, what to do?
What else do we not yet know?
The question the monarchy and its comms officers are trying to answer – so they can lever back some control in this sorry saga, flush it through a few painful news cycles, build a plan to repair the reputational damage and finally move on – is this:
What further damaging Andrew-related material might still be out there waiting to emerge?
That’s a question only Andrew can answer, but it’s very unlikely he will.
