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Calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Inturgue Game,
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your host Mark Francis. In the Standard, Melanie mcdonnagh writes,
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one of the causes of the royal downfall is still
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even now up to her old tricks. I refer obviously
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to Sarah Ferguson, who we discover from the Mail on
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Sunday was allegedly hold up in a Swiss wellness retreat
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for the month of January to get away from it all.
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Apparently she took refuge in the thirteen thousand pounds a
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night Paracelsus recovery clinic in Zurich following the release of
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those parts of the Epstein files which show her abject
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gratitude for Jeffrey's financial bailouts. And insiders said Sarah went
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just after Christmas and stayed until the end of January.
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She always feels at home at Paracelsus and knows she'll
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get love and attention there as well as expert health treatment,
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which is feeling her most vulnerable. Isn't that nice? Trouble is,
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there's no such thing as completely free thirteen thousand pounds
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a night wellness stay. In due course, the Paracelsus Retreat
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website carried an endorsement from the former Duchess of York.
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They may like to reconsider that endorsement, but it's not
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just the venality of the transaction that is terrifying. It's that,
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based on the recent revelations, this was one of the
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reasons she and her former husband got into this situation.
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Fergie's debts and her need to fund them were one
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of the factors that put her and her former husband
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in the clutches of Jeffrey Epstein. God knows, I am
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rubbish at personal finance, but Sarah Ferguson and her complete
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inability to spend within her means, is in a league
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all of her own. Her ability to ratchet up debt
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by an impossibly extravagant lifestyle is itself a world away
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from the home life of the late Queen and that
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entire generation. But there comes a day of reckoning, and
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Sarah Ferguson pays her dues by apparently using the last
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shreds of her royal status to get the treatment she
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has a accustomed herself too. If she had wanted to
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redeem herself, she would be leading a life of monastic
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simplicity in some country hideaway butt. Nope, even in adversity,
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she wants love and attention. What she should be trying
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for is lenden austerity, preferably in a convent. Instead of that,
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She's reported to have managed to secure a Heidi hold
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in the UAE with her friend, the Crown Prince of Bahrain,
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Salomon bin Ahmad al Khalifa. What do you suppose will
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come of that? Chris Richards has some questions about Fergie Riches,
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writes in The Express. For a woman who has lived
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most of her adult life with bankruptcy hanging over her
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head like the mythical sword of Damocles, Frankly, how did
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she afford it? Did a mystery benefactor pay her thirteen
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thousand pounds a day bill? And if so, why, if
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it's her own money, is spending so much of it
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when cheaper options are surely available A good idea at
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this stage. Given the lavish spending that seemed to make
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her desperate for Epstein's help, perhaps someone should simply hide
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her bank cards. It's claimed she was there for the
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entire month of January. If so, that's close to an
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eye watering four hundred thousand pounds. That's no small change
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for any royal, especially an ex duchess turfed out of
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the mansion, who last week closed six companies and is
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currently persona on grata in Blighty. Danielle Ralph for the
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BBC Rights Andrew is Prince William's problem too, and it
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makes his future job harder as he moves closer to
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becoming king. The stane Andrew was leaving on the reputation
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of the royal family matters to an heir who says
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he wants to modernize and change. One source who is
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known Prince William for decades told me William might be
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the change maker the country needs, but he won't want
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it forced on him. In this way, I spoke to
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several people, all of whom no members of the royal
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family well have a history with them, understand the challenges.
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Many would count themselves as supporters of the monarchy. Others
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less so spoke to me off the record, which is
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often the frustration in this job that so few people
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will say things out loud. But it is my judgment
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that their experience and knowledge offer a greater understanding of
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how events have played out and are worth hearing from
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the media. Coverage of a recent days will be deeply
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unsettling for the royal household. The language is of crisis, catastrophe,
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extraordinary times, and the end of the monarchy as we
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know it. One question I asked everyone I spoke to
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was a question many had put to me. Did we
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need to hear directly from the king? Would the public
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have understood the king's anguish better if they had seen
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him personally explain why he'd stripped his brother of his titles,
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or even if he'd expressed his deepest concern about his
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brother's arrest last week on camera. Some have suggested this
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was a big enough moment for an address to the nation.
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Public statements are for national cohesion. A royal source said,
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there are judgment calls to be made all the time.
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This is a difficult situation for the family and the institut.
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It is best for the authorities to examine it in
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a proper way. Another person who knows the workings of
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the royal family well told me they understood that we
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live in a world where feelings are shared and explored
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without restraint and royal silence or written public statements can
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feel remote, but they were cautious when it came to
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the King and the royal family. You always have to
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ask yourself if you can say something that would make
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the situation better. You don't want to come out and
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just provide content for the sake of it. My gut
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is that business as usual still works best. More palacing
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just a moment. We'll share this next one with a
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grain of salt. According to Closer magazine, Harry and Meghan
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are reportedly encouraging Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie to consider
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telling their side of the royal turmoil in a memoir
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to which we say A can you imagine? B yes,
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please and see don't release it when Charles is visiting
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the States. According to Closer, the Sussex's leave it is
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a great idea for the York sisters to share their
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perspective publicly, and are even offering to introduce them to
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publishers and agents they can help them put together a deal.
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They could both earn a lot of money in the
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process and inside a claim the sisters have been defined
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by association for too long. If they're going to steady
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the ship for their own families, that may require stepping
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into uncomfortable territory and finally telling their story in their
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own voice. A professional massuse has claimed she was waved
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into Buckingham Palace without security checks to give Andrew a
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private massage that was later paid for directly from a
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Royal account. Speaking to The Daily Mail, Monique Gianna Aloney
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said I got to the room and Andrew stood there
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in a robe. After saying hello, he disappeared to the
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bathroom and came back in the nude. I averted my
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eyes and I was quite embarrassed. She added that beyond
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the initial moment, I can't actually say anything bad about
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Prince Andrew in my experience on that day, I only
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massaged him once, describing him as very nic and very gentlemanly.
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Gianne Aloney said she had originally been introduced to Andrew
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through Glen Maxwell, explaining I first had a call from
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Glen Maxwell's secretary in New York. She had wanted a
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late night massage, but I had told her that I
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don't do that, so I went in the morning the
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next day. She claimed. During one visit to Maxwell, Jeffrey
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Epstein was also in the room the whole time, and
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they were talking about purchasing some island for around twenty
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million pounds, which I thought was very strange and it
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was awkward that Epstein was just standing there. An invoice
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provided to the newspaper shows the seventy five pound fee
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for the June two thousand massage was settled by check
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from a Buckingham Palace account signed by Andrew's then assistant.
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An unearthed interview has resurfaced in which a former Royal
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Protection officer described Andrew as deeply unpopular within palace circles
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and revealed the blunt nickname some allegedly used behind closed doors.
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Speaking to journalist Tara Brown, the former officer explained his
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official code, so if he were to come into the palace,
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his call sign was Purple four one. But he did
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have a nickname. But it's a bit rude to tell you,
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he added, I can tell you that you won't be
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able to air it, before eventually disclosing that Andrew was
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known as the Sea Word. The officer used the actual word,
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he elaborated, plain and simple, because unfortunately he upset everyone
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he came across. He was the most unpopular member of
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the royal family while I was there. He was just
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rude and arrogant and his sense of self entitlement was breathtaking.
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Andrew reportedly believed he had found an unlikely ally in
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Prince Harry, a fellow spare he felt had also been
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cast asign by the royal family in what sources describe
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as a quiet attempt to rebuild relevance and edge back
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toward royal acceptance. According to insiders cited by Radar Online,
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Andrew saw shared grievances as potential common ground. He is
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said to have float of the idea of collaborating on
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charitable initiatives and even visiting Harry and Meghan in California.
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He reportedly on Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who maintained
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contact with Harry to help open a dialogue, but that
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tentative alignment never gained traction. Sources claim Megan Markle had
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no interest in welcoming Andrew into their orbit, fearing reputational damage.
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What she says goes when it comes to Harry. One
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insider alleged, and there you have it. If you like
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to email us, we addresses the Palace Intrigue at gmail
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dot com. Please followus on Spotify, Apple, or the app
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of your choice. I'm Mark Francis My thanks to John McDermott.
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This is palace intrigue and good terms.