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Calorougus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue Gay.
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I'm your host, Mark Francis. Andrew mount Patten Windsor is
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reportedly facing another family setback with claims he will not
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be invited to the upcoming wedding of his nephew Peter Phillips.
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Peter Phillips has set to marry his fiance Harriet Spurling
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on June sixth at All Saints Church in Gloucestershire. The
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ceremony is expected to be a private family occasion, although
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a number of senior royals are reportedly expected to attend,
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including King Charles, Queen Ca Miller, and the Prince and
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Princess of Wales. Andrew, however, is said to be absent
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from the guest list. Some fear Andrew will evade justice.
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Royal author Andrew Lowney was on Tom Sykes Royalist podcast
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Sikes asked do you think that Andrew will actually evade
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justice after all of this? Lowney replied, yes, I think
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he will. I mean we're already being prepared for no
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charges to be laid. The last thing the royal family
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wants is all their dirty linen aired in public, So
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I think it can go different ways. One is to
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say that he was never a public servant, he was
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just a royal secondment, so that malefeasance doesn't work. I
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think we may have difficulties getting women to give evidence
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for the sex trafficking. I think the lion will be
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he's not going to get a fair trial because of
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the publicity. The danger is that he wants to call
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his brother to give evidence in the court, which he's
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entitled to do, and of course the king couldn't appear
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in his own court. The worry of blackmail behind the scenes, saying, look,
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why am I being fingered when you guys all knew
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about it and did nothing. So I agree it's been
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kicked into the long grass, and the hope that there
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will be a new rain and everyone will have forgotten
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and they can kind of bury the whole story. I
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share your cynicism that you know, whatever the king says
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about the law, following its course, the law will know
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that this is not somewhere it wants to go. Even
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Andrew's eventual death stir things up for the royals and
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inside are told Radar Online. For years there has been
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enormous curiosity about how Andrew continues to maintain his lifestyle
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after effectively being removed from public royal life. The assumption
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inside royal circles is that his will could finally expose
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the true state of his finances, his investments, his property arrangements,
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and exactly how wealthy he really is. What makes this
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especially explosive is that Andrew no longer occupies the protected
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status he once had as a senior working royal. Traditionally,
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royal wills are still to preserve privacy and protect the
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dignity of the institution, but there is growing belief that
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Andrew's estate may not receive the same protection because of
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his changed status and the damaged caused by the Epstein scandal.
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A palace aid said, the Epstein scandal fundamentally changed how
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Andrew is viewed, both publicly and institutionally, and it may
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now effectively lead to his finances finally being unraveled in public.
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Any future disclosure of his finances would attract extraordinary attention
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because people believe there are still unanswered questions about privileged
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money and how he has been protected for so long.
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Royal finances are facing a rare public funding cut, with
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the BBC reporting that the Sovereign grant is expected to
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be reduced for the first time since it was introduced
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in twenty twelve. The issue comes amid renewed scrutiny of
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royal money following the scandal surrounding Andrew Mountbatten Windsor in
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questions over value for money at royal properties. BBC Royal
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Correspondent Sewan Coughlin wrote that if Queen Elizabeth once described
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nineteen ninety two as her Annis horror BILLUS, King Charles
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Rain has now had, what that might be called is
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Andrew Horror BILLUS. The Sovereign grant currently stands at a
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record level, boosted temporarily to help pay for repairs at
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Buckingham Palace, but Treasury ministers have already indicated that the
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grant is expected to fall once those works are completed.
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Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Livermore, told the House
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of Lords in March the Government is committed to bringing
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forward legislation to reset the grant to a lower level
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from twenty twenty seven to twenty eight once Buckingham Palace
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reservicing works are completed. The funding review comes as MPs
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on the Public Accounts Committee prepared to examine the Crown
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at state and leasing arrangements for properties occupied by members
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of the Royal family. That inquiry follows public anger over
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Andrew mount Patten Windsor's former residence at Royal Lodge in
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Windsor and broader questions about whether the royal property arrangements
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represent good value for taxpayers. Royal biographer Andrew Lowney said
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Andrew's downfall had raised wider questions about royal finanswers. Lowney
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said it's open to can of worms for the rest
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of the Royal family about their own financewers, and I
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hope there's more scrutiny as they need to be more open.
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The BBC also quoted a former senior civil servant criticizing
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Andrew's travel expenses during his time as a trade envoy.
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The former official said, I couldn't believe it. It was like
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it wasn't real money. They weren't spending any of their
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own money. Constitutional expert Craig Prescott said royal fineans answers
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have long been a weak point for the monarchy. Prescott
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said it's always a weak spot for the monarchy. He
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added the Royal family looked like they had fantastic wealth,
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and so the perception is of tax payers money going
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to people who are very, very wealthy in the first place,
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and it's never a good look. However, Prescott also said
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if you want to have a monarchy that carries out
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public functions, then the state should pay for that fundamentally.
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The BBC noted that the current grant is calculated as
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a percentage of Crown of State profits, even though the
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Crown of State itself pays its profits to the Treasury
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and the grant is paid for public funds. A controversial
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feature known as the golden ratchet has historically allowed the
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grant to rise but prevent it from falling. The Treasury
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says forthcoming legislation would allow a one off cut for
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twenty twenty seven to twenty eight, while keeping the mechanism
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in place long term. The Treasury spokesman said the golden
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ratchet would still stay long term. Critics are calling for
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greater openness. Former Minister Norman Baker wrote, it is instructive
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that whatever changes to royal fight answers have been announced
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by governments over the last fifty years, we are always
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told they are prudent and represent good value for money.
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He added, yet they nearly always end up increasing significantly
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the income for the royals. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed
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Davies said in Parliament we must build a culture of
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transparency and accountability. Labour MP Rachel Maskell said unaccountable. Power
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must not hide, privilege must not be protected, money must
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be accounted for. Historian Anna Whitelock said there was once
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a public reverence for the royal family, but that modern
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questions now focus on accountability, transparency, power, influence and money,
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which might well be thought to shed much needed light
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and heat on the monarchy. She added that the royals
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receive public funding if the financing of the monarchy is
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really a matter for public discussion, and we are left
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quite deliberately in the dark, more palacing just a moment.
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A landmark court ruling involving the faire family of the
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Marquess of Bath could eventually have implications for the wider
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aristocracy and even the royal family. A High Court judge
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has ruled that the youngest son of seal and Twynn,
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the eighth Marquess of Bath, and his wife Emma, Marchioness
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of Bath, could potentially inherit part of his father's fortune
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despite being born via surrogate. The decision is being viewed
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as a significant moment for Britain's hereditary system, which has
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traditionally relied on centuries old definitions of legitimacy that predate
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modern fertility treatments and surrogacy. Lord and Lady Bath shared
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two sons, John and Henry. After Lady Bath developed a
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serious medical condition during her first pregnancy, the couple used
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an American surrogate to have their second child, Henry, who
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was their biological son. Because Henry is believed to be
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the first known member of the British aristocracy born via surrogate,
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questions emerged about whether he qualified under long standing inheritance
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rules to aristocratic titles and trusts. In his ruling, Justice
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Matthews said it would be unfair not to recognize Henry
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as his father's son. The judge said Henry is the
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son of Lord and Lady Bath. Not only is he
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treated by them and will be treated by the world
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in general, as a child of Lord and Lady Bath's marriage,
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but he is also their genetic child. Justice Matthews also
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explained why the family sought the ruling now rather than
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waiting until later in Harry's life. He said a decision
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can then be taken at a later stage, in the
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light of appropriate advice, whether to exercise the power to
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add him. Legal observers say the ruling could eventually influence
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how aristocratic succession and potentially royal succession rules are interpreted
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in cases involving assisted reproduction. The article notes that the
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last major change to royal succession came in twenty thirteen,
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when Parliament passed the Succession to the Crown Act, ending
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the system of male preference primogeniture for young royals. That
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change meant birth order now determines succession regardless of gender,
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allowing Princess Charlotte to remain the head of Prince Louis
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in the line of succession after his birth. The Barr
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family has already made modern aristocratic history before. In twenty twenty,
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Emathyn became Britain's first black Marchioness when her husband inherited
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the title following the death of his father. Emma, the
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daughter of a Nigerian oil businessman and a British mother,
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has also become known through television appearances and fashion events,
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including a recent appearance at the met Gala alongside Serena Williams,
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and there you have it played. Email us addresses the
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Palace Intrigu at gmail dot com. Please followus on Spotify,
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Apple or the app of your choice. Mark Francis My
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thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Intrigue and good turns.