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Calarougus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I
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am your host to Mark Francis. Activists hung a photograph
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inside the Loure of Museum showing Andrew mount Batton Windsor
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being driven from a police station following his arrest. The
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British political campaign group Everyone Hates Elon fixed the image
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to a wall inside the Paris Gallery on Sunday. The
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photograph shows Andrew slouched in the back seat of a
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range Rover after being released from custody. The image was
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taken by waiters photographer Film Noble following Andrew's arrest on
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Thursday at the Sandinham Estate on suspicion of misconduct in
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public office. He later spent eleven hours in police custody
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at Alisham Police Station in Norfolk before being released under investigation.
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A fixed beneath a framed photograph was a card reading
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He's sweating now, with the year twenty twenty six printed below,
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a reference to comment Andrew made during his twenty nineteen
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BBC Newsnight interview. Everyone Hates Elon describes itself as targeting
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billionaires and their politician mates through provocative stunts. Previous actions
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have included posters in London featuring Manchester United players alongside
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the slogan immigration has done more for this city than
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billionaire tax dodgers ever have, and a banner in Venice
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during Jeff Bezos' wedding that read, if you can rent
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Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax. In
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The Independent, Victoria Richards writes, I think the lleu of
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Stunt also shows something deeper, darker and more dangerous for
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the monarchy in Britain, something that no amount of casting
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Andrew aside or branding him the blank sheep will change. Now.
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The era of deference is over. Longane are the days
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of respect for kings and queens and epic days long
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cues to see the body of Her Highness of bowing it,
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coronations and waving flags at hashtag platty jubes parties. I
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can remember when the marriage of Prince Andrew and Sarah
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Fergus was celebrated with street parties up and down the country.
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It's hard to imagine that happening again. Andrew's arrest, his
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exoriating fall from grace, his dramatic climb down from propriety
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amid the stain of potential illegality signals we are in
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a new epoch. Now it is a post royal period,
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a raucous and distinctly republican rumble, the age of a reverence,
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an irrevolution has begun, and fittingly it has started in France.
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We have done away with the deference by way of
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a snigger at South Park and a lol at the Loeure.
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The idea that an image is so iconic, so meaningful,
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that it is truly a work of art has perhaps
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fittingly become a meme in the age of the Internet.
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Hanging in the loure, they say about a snapshot of
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the moment that transcends, the moment that becomes something bigger
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than itself and changes the world forever. Two fire engines
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were seen arriving at Andrew Mountbatten, Windsor's temporary home wood Farm,
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on the Sandringham Estate on Monday afternoon at approximately twelve
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twenty five pm. On fire engine drove up the lane
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with blue lights and siren activated, followed by a response vehicle.
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A second fire engine arrived shortly afterwards. A witness said
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there were no police or security around. The fire engine
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just suddenly arrived. They all went in and came out
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perhaps five or six minutes later. No one had any
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idea of what was going on. The emergency vehicles left
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the property shortly after arriving. It is understood the incident
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appears to have been a false alarm. Conspiracy minded people
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may wonder otherwise. Wood Farm has been Andrew's residence on
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the Standringham estate following his recent relocation from Royal Lodge.
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Andrew reportedly charged taxpayers for massage services during his time
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as the United Kingdom's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.
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According to the BBC, Andrew used public funds for massages
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and what were described as excessive travel costs while serving
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in the role between two thousand and one and eleven.
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One former civil servant told the broadcaster they had initially
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refused his request to pay for massage services, but were
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overruled by more senior staff. Charles Moore writes in The Telegraph,
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the word massage is catnip to ust journalists. Nevertheless, I
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feel it is a symptom of incipient craziness that the
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news on the BBC Today program this morning led with
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anonymous accusations that the then Prince Andrew charged a massage
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to the government while traveling abroad as Britain's Special trade representative.
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If he did, he was unwise, but as his work
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was unpaid, he may have felt it was reasonable. After all,
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the British government rightly picked up the bills for his
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hotel or embassy stays. A massage for, say, an aching
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back is not an indescribably wicked add on. Whatever one's suspicions,
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the seriousness with which this trivial detail is treated by
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our national broadcaster is part of wider efforts to suggest
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that Andrew Epstein scandal threatens the monarchy itself. I think
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that claim is mistaken. Out in the country where I lived,
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the general sentiment of people who are not journalists is
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that Andrew bad news and his Epstein links were terrible,
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but that the King and the rest of the Royal
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family deserve more simpaly than reproof. In living memory, there
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have been four major royal horror stories. The divorce and
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death of Diana, Princess of Wales really two stories, of course,
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but with a divorce adding greatly to the drama of
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her tragic and premature death. The Harry and Meghan breach
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with the royal family and now this of these three,
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the Diana story was by Father Gravest. The royal family
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stood accused of organized unkindness. In revenge. Diana was trying
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to change the succession, arguing that her eldest son William
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should succeed to the throne instead of his father, Prince Charles.
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She told me would really be much happier living in
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Tuscany with Missus Parker bowls and painting watercolors. Even the
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point that Andrew is eighth in line to the throne
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is remote enough to allow the question to be looked
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at later rather than decided before any possible court case
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short of bubonic plague. Andrew was not about to be king.
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He is the classic bad apple, and now, being an
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ex prince, he is out of the barrel. The Australian
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government has said it would support a legislation to remove
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Andrew from the line of succession. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
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has written to Kostama confirming his government would agree to
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any proposal to remove Andrew, who is currently eighth in
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line to the throne, as one of the king's successes.
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In his letter, mister Albanes wrote, in light of recent events,
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concerning Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, I am writing to confirm that
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my government would agree to any proposal to remove him
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from the line of royal succession. These are grave allegations
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and Australians take them seriously. Any change to the line
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of succession would require legislation not only at Westminster, but
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also the consent of all fourteen Commonwealth realms. Buckingham Palace
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has deferred the issue of parliament. Sources say that because
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legislation is required to alter the succession, it is for
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the government to act. The King would not oppose such
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a move, despite previously being reluctant to devote parliamentary time
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to the issue. New polling by Yugo found that eighty
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two percent of Britain's believe Andrew should be removed, while
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six percent believe he should not. Andrew currently sits behind
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Prince William, William's three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and
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Prince Louis, and the Duke of Sussex and his two children.
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The last significant reform of succession law came in twenty
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thirteen with the Succession to the Crown Act, which ended
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male primogeniture for those born after the twenty eighth of
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October twenty eleven. It ensured that Princess Charlotte remains ahead
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of her younger brother in the line of succession. More
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palasing just a moment. The Washington Post reports that as
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allegations engulfed Andrew Mountbatten Windsor over the years, three generations
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of the royal family responded very differently. As the paper
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puts it, Queen Elizabeth showed a mother's hope, King Charles
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a brother's fury, and Prince William a nephew's dismay. Royal
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commentator Craig Prescott told The Washington Post Charles didn't prevaricate
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about this. His statement was released very quickly, adding you
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get the sense that William would have gone much for further,
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much earlier. By contrast, the late Elizabeth second was described
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as moving with restraint. Despite photographs in twenty eleven showing
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Andrew walking in Central Park with Jeffrey Epstein and later
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allegations by Virginia Jeffrey, the Palace took no immediate action.
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Author Tina Brown wrote in The Palace Papers that while
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Charles and William believed Andrew was toast, the late Queen
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and her second son, who he might one day return
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to public life and needs diminished role. As recently as
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twenty twenty two, Andrew played a visible role at Prince
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Philip's memorial service, escorting the Queen into Westminster Abbey. That
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appearance came shortly after he reached an out of court
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settlement with Virginia Geoffrey, reportedly worth around fifteen million dollars,
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without admitting any liability or wrongdoing. Under Charles, the approach
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shifted in the months preceding Andrew's arrest. Charles stripped him
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of his Prince and Duke of York titles and removed
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him from Royal Lodge, relocating him to Sandringham. The Washington
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Post describes it as diminished circumstances by royal standards, but
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far from hardship. Royal historian Andrew Lowney took a different view, writing,
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King Charles deserves little praise for acting only in the
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face of undeniable evidence. The Royal family could at any
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point have taken the time to check Andrew's story. He
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added that it defies belief that the Palace would not
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have internally established whether Andrew's alibi held up and whether
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he remained in contact with Epstein. As Andrew Lowney put it,
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they need to clean the stables before William takes on
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the roll. He doesn't want to inherit this. And there
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you have it. Collect to email us address the Palace
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Intrigue at gmail dot com. Please follo us on Spotify,
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Apple when the avenue which choice leaves a nice review
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from Enjoying the Show by Mark Francis Mean thanks to
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John McDermot. This is Palace Intrigue and good terms