ROYAL expert Jennie Bond has compared the impact of the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor scandal to the death of Princess Diana.
Speaking on GB News, she said: “As a reporter on the road, when there’s a big, big news story running, you do feel pressure to ask the question that everyone wants an answer to, but it’s a pretty mean thing to do.
“It must be damned annoying and the Royal Family are, quite understandably, peeved about the whole thing. Beyond that, they also, I must say they have, in all their statements, said their thoughts are with the victims, not so much with themselves.
“Having said that, yes, clearly they’re worried about the damage to the monarchy that this is doing, and it’s continuing to do it. The questions are growing, and I’m not sure they’re going to go away.
“I’m not sure the Palace have done enough.
“I thought that when they forced the ex-Duke to give up his title of Duke or not use it, and then they stripped him of all his titles, and then they booted him out of his house, I thought, This must be it. What more can they do?
“But I’m now coming around to the view that perhaps we do need a public statement of some kind from the King saying, yes, he has exerted pressure on his brother to co-operate with the American investigation into Epstein.
“That he has told Andrew perhaps, look, if you don’t say what you know, what you saw, protest your innocence by all means, but say that you were there, and this is what you saw; give the evidence. If you don’t do that, then I’m not prepared to keep you for the rest of your life in a house in Sandringham and pay all your bills.
“That’s what I’m wondering if it’s what he should do.
“This is not only the monarchy, it’s the family, and it is his brother. And although I think he is reviewing his relationship with his brother, which was never particularly close, I think he feels an obligation for Andrew’s physical safety.
“Because he does present a security issue to the authorities, he must have some protection, and also his mental wellbeing. I mean, there’s no doubt Andrew is under enormous pressure, and many a man would have cracked already.
“I’ve heard reports that he’s been very morose at Royal Lodge, very depressed. And yet that’s not what his behaviour shows. He’s looked quite cocky, riding around on his horse, waving to the crowds.
“And I think that did impress on the Palace that perhaps it was best to remove him to Sandringham sooner rather than later.
“I think it’s serious. I think it is on a par with what I saw after Diana’s death and the reaction of the public and the Palace, the slow reaction of the palace. It’s certainly on a par with that.
“I’m not sure we’re really talking sort of the crisis of the abdication, but it is chipping away at their reputation, and it is overshadowing their work, as we saw today in Saudi Arabia.
“And it’s going to continue to do so for as long as people start shouting questions, either reporters or quite often in the past it’s been members of the Republic group, the anti-monarchy group, and they’re perfectly entitled to do so.
“Maybe it’s up to us, the media, to not report it quite so widely in the future, because it’s becoming routine now. And generally, if you’re there at the event, it doesn’t actually overshadow and we’ve seen time and again that actually the crowds around the King or the Prince have shouted down the heckler and said, ‘Oh just stop it.’”
