In all of the conversations about Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee next year, the biggest speculation and gossip has always been about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. As soon as jubilee planning began this spring, it’s almost exclusively been about Harry and Meghan – whether they’ll attend, whether they’ll bring the kids and whether William will be predictably incandescent with rage. But there has been lowkey speculation that Prince Andrew was planning to actually take part in the jubilee sh-t, from the balcony wave to the church visit and everything else. Except it looks like Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit and court case will extend into spring and summer 2022. LOL.
Prince Andrew will be pulled from all next year’s Platinum Jubilee events after a US court scheduled his bombshell sex abuse case to clash with the celebrations, according to reports. The Duke of York, who has stepped down from royal duties amid Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre’s astonishing lawsuit, will reportedly not even appear with the sovereign and other royals on the Buckingham Palace balcony for an RAF flypast.
An insider told The Sun that the plan is for Andrew, 61, to be ‘invisible’ during the four-day national royal party to mark what will be his mother the Queen’s 70th year on the throne between Thursday, June 2 and Sunday, June 5 next year.
Judge Lewis Kaplan has ruled, with the agreement of both parties, that disclosure, which includes Andrew testifying under oath, should be completed by July 14 – just five weeks after the jubilee. Documents lodged in New York also state that a pre-trial order is finished by July 28 next year. Lawyers will reveal Andrew’s response to the sex allegations on Friday ahead of a pre-trial review in New York next week.
Jubilee organisers are also reportedly trying to establish what to do with Harry and Meghan during the Platinum Jubilee events, which will include street parties, a live televised gig and lighting of beacons across the UK.
Royal expert Nigel Cawthorne, author of Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell And The Palace, told the newspaper: ‘It is very sensible otherwise the attention would all be on Andrew. It is an embarrassing situation for the Queen especially as she is stumping up for his defence. He just has to keep his head down.’
A thought occurred to me recently and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head ever since: do you think the royals and their aides plan things so far in advance because everyone within the institution is a lazy, incompetent idiot who needs one year in advance to plan out sh-t like “waving from a balcony”? It’s really striking how much of “monarchy” is just bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake. These people wouldn’t know what to do if they weren’t idly speculating on how things will look eight months from now and having endless meetings discussing hypotheticals for whether a rapist prince should be front-and-center on a balcony.
Photos courtesy of WENN and Avalon Red.
When will this terrible discrimination against Those Who Suddenly Couldn’t Sweat But Decades Later Were Suddenly Able to Sweat Again ever end?!?
It was obvious after PA’s terrible interview that he was going to be publicly exiled from the family. It would have been a surprise to me if he WAS included in the Jubilee.
Gotta love that this will buuuuuurn his pedo ass like a scorched earth fire. It sure put a smile on MY face thinking about his outrage when being told!
Why does this article make it sound like the US district court purposely scheduled the trial around the jubilee? We are an entirely different country. We don’t give a damn about a f*cking jubilee.
@JT – I noticed that too!
Also, why is Virginia Guiffre’s lawsuit “astonishing”?
That struck me as well! No blame for the alleged perpetrator, Andrew, but plenty of blame for the courts and for daring to, like, do their job. It’s not an attack on the queen or “clout chasing”, it’s an effing trial!
It’s ludicrous that there was ever and still seemingly is an ongoing discussion about whether or not Andrew should be waving from a balcony, and to be honest I think it will depend more on the Queen’s health. If she’s still calling the shots, you can bet your buttons her favourite boy will be at her side, decked out in his shiniest medals and grinning like a pompous fool. Hell, someone might have to physically stop her from giving him another award or promotion on the day.
But if Charles is really in charge, we won’t see Andrew. So this story being put out there could be an indication that the power dynamic is shifting.
True, but TBH if someone did the schedule that way, I have no problem with it.
I don’t care when they started planning the jubilee, Andrew should never have been on the guest list. Do they not get there is no coming back from child rape?
So no throwing tomatoes and rotten eggs? I thought they wanted my tourist dollars.
Best take ever!! 😂
They could throw him off the balcony
I don’t know – it takes a year to plan a common wedding, and here we’re talking about a 4-day national holiday, with a sh*t-ton of ancient protocol. And with H&M, there’s a lot of history to digest. But yeah, it doesn’t take a year to decide if Andrew should be on the balcony.
Andrew must be pretty worried about when his mom passes. What if Charles refuses to pay the legal bills?
I’d bet dollars to donuts Phil left him a nice sum of £££££s, and Mummy Dearest will as well, even more. Just like Diana left more for Harry, cash wise, as she said Bitter Brother will have all the monarchy incomes, and Harry will need the cash. Ol’ Brenda will make sure it’s safely offshore in a private account for Mummy’s favourite Pedo by now, so Tampon won’t have any say over it, and Pedo will not have to worry about being left a poor by his spiteful, jealous, mean ol’ brother.
Since Andrew is no longer a working royal, he doesn’t deserve a dime from Charles or the tax payers.
He can get a muthafuking job!
Who’d hire him?
Andrew is selling his $23 million Swiss chalet so he can pocket the money before the Queen dies, and have a nice nest egg for the rest of his life. And I’m sure his parents will/have left him a lot of money, too. As for legal protection — I think Charles will continue that. I think Charles wouldn’t WANT to continue to protect Andrew, but there is a bigger issue at stake: opening up a royal family member’s shady business practices to inspection. THAT cannot be allowed to happen, which is why I think Charles will continue to protect Andrew legally even after the Queen dies.
You might be right, but at the same time I can see Charles doing something shady, to cover the RF’s back, while throwing Andrew to the wolves. He has time to plan now, and I’d bet anything that they’re working hard to get their affairs in order, and cover tracks.
Jealousy aside, I think Charles knows that protecting Andrew will be a terrible look for him, in a role he will have just landed, after waiting a lifetime for, and he knows it.
What to do with Harry and Meghan? Like what do you mean what to do with them? They aren’t the rapist here. They are wayward children either . These people can just go f off
Probably trying to figure out if they come, which will be the farthest, darkest corner from TQ’s position in which to stick them.
I worked in fundraising for a year, we planned a 300 person gala event in France from NYC that had members of the aristocracy and the Aga Khan himself was the guest of honor (google him if you are like Aga Who? He’s a big deal). I started there in February and the gala was in September, that’s all we worked on for 7 months. The Aga Khan canceled last minute and we had to reformat the entire seating arrangements for dinner because of course it was planned with the Aga Khan as the centerpiece. I have never been so stressed out in my life, I was carrying a portable printer everywhere that my boss insisted I put in my suitcase so I could print out last minute things like labels, seating cards etc. After that stressful experience was over, the next day I met up with my boss and she was like “I’m going to do a walk through of this area so we can plan for next year’s gala…” which was 12 months away. And this was a one day event that lasted just a few hours in the evening, not a 4 day event. That’s when I knew I had to get out because I didn’t even want to think about next year’s gala. And then coming back to NYC, we had to write individualized thank you notes to all the guests and we had to customize it to French or English depending on the guest… yeah it was a nightmare.
The Jubilee probably takes more than a year to plan because it’s a 4 day event involving the most famous family in the world (I can’t imagine the security logistics). I envy the huge team of people and resources at their disposal. My boss and I had to do EVERYTHING and it sucked.
We didn’t have to worry about Prince Andrew attending (no members of the BRF were invited lol), but we did have to take into consideration who cheated on who, who divorced who, who is in a feud with who because you can’t have those people near each other at these kinds of events… The aristocracy is such an incestuous bunch. I can’t remember their names but there were two people attending who had previously been married at some point and they had grown up as stepbrother and stepsister. You can’t make this stuff up.
I was on the coordinating team that planned our annual conference and AGM. It was a big deal with major celebrity guest speakers, entertainment, lavish meals, etc. for 800 people. We’d barely finish one conference, take a deep breath, then start planning the next one. I’m with you, it was excruciating. We’d be on call 24 hours a day, so yeah, I can see how something like this would be my worst nightmare, especially dealing with such egomaniacs.
They should just forget about the Jubilee. For one thing, the Queen might not live that long and secondly, surely the zillions needed to hold this thing could probably be better spent on the offsetting the money cut from the NHS, school breakfast and mental health programs and other use needed to help Britain’s underprivileged. The self-aggrandisement of the BRF is unbelievable!
I think we might see Andrew back in the public sooner than the Jubilee. If the reports are true that family members are going to escort the Queen to public events, then who better than Andrew to take on that role? I’m predicting that Andrew will participate in the Jubliee celebrations but Harry and Meghan won’t.
I agree with your prediction although I think Harry may attend an event or two just to honor his granny. I would be surprised to see Meghan make the trip, with or without the kids. I mean, why would she want to spend any time with a family who wished death to her and her unborn child? If I were Meghan, I’d never set foot on that island again.
At Philips funeral their spokesperson made it clear that she would have been there if not for being 8 months pregnant. I kinda wish people would stop with this narrative of her never coming back. Because when she does show up these same people will then blame her for the abuse she’s received.
As much as we want them to severe ties completely they have to be diplomatic especially with the Queen still around. She still garners a lot of respect from world leaders unfortunately.
So yes she’ll probably be there and we can’t fault her for that. Let them do what needs to be done. They know what’s best for them and who to trust/not to trust.
I hope that Meghan and Harry go together. There are some bots who want Harry to “leave Meghan” and take the children to the Queen. So sickening. The Queen should also make a public statement that says she would welcome Harry and Meghan to offset the spin. Harry should make it crystal clear that where he goes his family goes,
The interesting thing is a lot of people will be watching just to see Harry and Meghan. So imagine them banishing Harry and Meghan to the back somewhere with no visibility and how spiteful and evil that will looks. You already know the press likes drama so they will make it a big deal if that happens.
Add to that The Crown coming out, Prince Andrews court case, and Harry’s memoirs. Yikes. Annddd then Will and Kate potentially coming the US after all this has happened. Ha
BRF will be in for a bumpy ride.
Yeah @LP, I’ve always assumed they want Harry and Meg at the jubilee so they can push them to the back of the balcony and publicly put them in their place. Kate will wear extremely high heels and an even taller and bigger hat than that first time.
Although, I can also see Andrew trying to sneak on that balcony somehow.
LOL, the only person who thought Andrew would be at the Jubilee was Andrew. and maybe his mother.
Not to be morbid but how can anyone at this point be sure there’s going to be a jubilee to be had? I mean we know the queen’s probably not in the best of health, and despite Billiam and Karen’s media minions building them up, it doesn’t seem that their going to be doing anything but the bare minimum required for the foreseeable future. Chunk and friends don’t seem to be able to hold peoples attention for long. Which means Betty will have to be trotted back out soon and the end results? We saw this with all the talk of Philips 100th. Maybe for the sake of not tempting fate the palace staff should focus on the immediate and not so much the future.
I agree. And somehow I suspect that at least some of the jubilee planning includes “can this be reconfigured/repurposed for a coronation?”
Agreed, @A. Call it morbid or realistic, but I’m not dusting off my tiara until well into next spring.
I think it’s just being realistic. I’d love a public event and an extra bank holiday, but I also get really bad vibes about the Queens health. Even the effort of the rest of the family to act like nothing is happening, suggests things aren’t good. How often do we see W&K going away (or apparently coming back)? Or Charles & Camilla planning their trip to Egypt and Jordan while we still have a pandemic, and immediately after this climate conference? I think the very goal of those things is to make people say “well she can’t be at deaths door, if her family still going abroad”.
I mean, I’m not sure *anyone* will be included in the Jubilee at this rate. Sorry not sorry.
I think Harry and Meghan will be there. They have never said anything negative about the Queen, which maybe means they still have a good relationship with her (as in, they didn’t think SHE was the problem). So I can’t see them missing a celebration for her that is this big.
People will be interested because Harry and Meghan are there. But I’m sure the rest of the family and their PR mouth pieces will tell everyone that THEY (and not Harry and Meghan) were the reason for all the interest.
Remember how Trump pushed one of the Eastern European leaders out of the way so he could be front and center for the group picture, that’s the way Andrew is on the balcony, always made sure he was front and center right next to his mother. Based on the protocols we all had to learn (because of Meghan) only the Future and Future Future and their spouses should be front and center with the queen. This is going to hurt (Andrew).
At this point it seems unlikely that the Queen will be around to attend this event, making the whole thing moot.