What an appalling and shameful picture. What a royal rabble they were, headed by a disgraced Prince Andrew striding ahead of the others with his galumphing ex-wife, Fergie, a few steps behind.
He’s grinning from ear to ear like the tom cat who got the cream, as if to say: ‘There, I told you I’d be back, front stage, resuming my rightful position as the Queen’s favourite son.’
Why on earth did the Royal Family allow this image to be broadcast to the world? How could Andrew – whose friendship with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein brought the monarchy into such disrepute – have managed to worm his way back into the royal fold?
This was the scene before a solemn Thanksgiving Service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor for the life of former King Constantine of Greece, who died last year aged 82. A service which brought together the largest gathering of European royals since the late Queen’s funeral in September 2022.
Hardly the occasion to laugh and joke, as Andrew did while leading the royal troupe to the chapel.
A triumphant Prince Andrew was leading the royal pack at the Thanksgiving Service for King Constantine in Windsor – with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson there with him
Prince Andrew grinned from ear to ear, as if to say: ‘There, I told you I’d be back, front stage’
The only working royal in the picture is Princess Anne, who can’t be faulted for the hours she puts in, and who of late seems to be one of the few in the Firm keeping things afloat. Why was she relegated four rows back in the group, while Andrew was grandstanding in pride of place?
Royal experts point out that the first person in the group is actually the least important – and that the later you arrive at the service, the more senior you are. Which explains why Queen Camilla was the last to take her pew in the chapel.
Andrew with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in New York, 2011
But we are talking about perceptions. This was an image of a brazenly triumphant Prince Andrew leading the pack – with Sarah Ferguson, who’s no stranger to controversy herself, striding ahead of Anne.
What was the Palace thinking? Why didn’t Andrew enter the chapel through a side-door? Why did no one among the army of courtiers and advisers have the sense to see how this would look?
Palace staff were at pains to stress that Andrew was only present as a member of the Royal Family in a ‘private capacity’ as this was classed as a family occasion.
What tosh – they knew the service would have a large audience as TV cameras were in place inside and outside St George’s Chapel.
Perhaps, as eighth in line to the throne, Andrew thought it his right to walk ahead of Anne who languishes in 17th place.
But the fact that he is still in the line of succession at all is an absurdity – and bewildering even to those, like me, who love the Royal Family.
Which brings us on to Andrew’s daughter Princess Beatrice, famous for little other than her taste in hideous fascinators, who was also in the picture. She’s not a working royal, she’s another hanger-on. And yet, due to antiquated lineage laws, Bea is tenth in line to the throne.
Andrew is the first and only prince to have been effectively sacked, stripped of all military roles and public functions. But for years, he has been shamelessly pushing for a return to royal duties. So much so that back in the summer of 2022, the late Queen had to tell him to ‘stay out of sight’ for ‘his own good’.
Little wonder she did, given the repercussions of his appearance at St George’s Chapel. Whether it was a private or public ceremony, whether he was technically following the rules, I say to hell with royal protocol if the result is a PR car crash like this.
Princess Beatrice (pictured with husband Edoardo arriving at the chapel), famous for her taste in hideous fascinators, was also in the picture despite not being a working royal
These non-working royals just don’t get it, do they? As if the Andrew and Fergie parade wasn’t enough, we’ve also had to endure Prince Harry still desperately clinging on to his royal status despite rejecting his family and fleeing to California.
This week he lost his High Court challenge against the Home Office decision to downgrade his taxpayer-funded personal security in the UK. A self-exiled prince suing the British Government! What a joke.
Much as it pains me to say it, Prince William, as heir, should have been leading the mourners into the chapel instead of Uncle Andy. He was due to deliver a reading at his godfather King Constantine’s service, yet pulled out 45 minutes before the service citing a ‘personal matter’. No further explanation is forthcoming.
It all leads to the perception of things falling apart – I can’t see the late Queen ever pulling out of a service at such short notice, however pressing or desperate the personal circumstances might have been.
Remember how, two days before she died, aged 96, she was meeting her new prime minister Liz Truss at Balmoral? Have the modern royals forgotten her dictum, ‘Never complain, never explain’, and always turn up?
There is one silver lining in all this. I never thought I would say it as one of her harshest critics in the past, but thank heavens for Queen Camilla. She has taken up the mantle magnificently, performing her royal duties with good humour as King Charles receives treatment for cancer. And to think she was once derided as ‘the laziest woman in Britain’. How things have changed!