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smokingbootOh my.
I recall seeing Fergie leap out of a car, slam the door, and race down the street followed by hapless bodyguards. What struck me then was her bandy legged sprint; I couldn't help thinking that whoever she was seeing, she could calm down a bit. Having said that, Fergie would outpace Usain Bolt for a free meal. Even then she had the rep of a grifter, albeit a very genial one. Other colleagues had tales to tell of the pair of them; she and Andy were known for bad table manners ('they eat like pigs'), and treating restaurant staff with no courtesy whatsoever. But then Cookie, Anne, and Margaret alike were all reputed to be capable of rudeness, expecting the world to put up and shut up due to their station. Never can tell really. Re Andy and Fergie stories, these were the same staff members complaining that Princess Diana was too tall with a big nose and a lucky face for photos. I am not sure what diplomats really know, but for proper irreverant goss, check in with embassy secretaries, at once vicious and shrewd. True? Couldn't say. Entertaining? Every day of the week.
The Yorks were universally considered exemplars of crass behaviour by those around them. Andrew is/was one of the most colossally spoilt men in the world. Can he have been as colossally stupid as it would take, to maintain relations with Epstein, then lie about them, and solidly keep lying? Can he really have forwarded confidential trade documents to Epstein, which seems the most likely basis for this charge? Even supposing him to be immeasurably infantile and greedy, could he be this foolish? What's he been doing with his money to need this kind of friend?
The King says what he must say, and it's true: The law must take its course.
The strange thing is this; in principle I am against the idea of monarchy, though I do see how it could be a waymarker for a nation, maybe even a binding power among disparate groups within the whole, the person who is and always will be above party politics, the person who exists to be your group egregore, the embodiment of your values, people, land. I can see it as a poetic conceit, maybe even a spiritual one. But I have never agreed with the inherent inequality of it, and royal finances need a proper squint, for they seem singularly obtuse. Yet somehow the death of the queen sealed my place as an Elizabethan, rather than a Carolingian or a Williamite. Do I miss her, do I feel for her? Probably not, but I do feel for the times she represented. And I am glad, for the sake of fond mums everywhere, that she was not around to see her favourite boy's disgrace splashed on the front page of every paper.
I recall seeing Fergie leap out of a car, slam the door, and race down the street followed by hapless bodyguards. What struck me then was her bandy legged sprint; I couldn't help thinking that whoever she was seeing, she could calm down a bit. Having said that, Fergie would outpace Usain Bolt for a free meal. Even then she had the rep of a grifter, albeit a very genial one. Other colleagues had tales to tell of the pair of them; she and Andy were known for bad table manners ('they eat like pigs'), and treating restaurant staff with no courtesy whatsoever. But then Cookie, Anne, and Margaret alike were all reputed to be capable of rudeness, expecting the world to put up and shut up due to their station. Never can tell really. Re Andy and Fergie stories, these were the same staff members complaining that Princess Diana was too tall with a big nose and a lucky face for photos. I am not sure what diplomats really know, but for proper irreverant goss, check in with embassy secretaries, at once vicious and shrewd. True? Couldn't say. Entertaining? Every day of the week.
The Yorks were universally considered exemplars of crass behaviour by those around them. Andrew is/was one of the most colossally spoilt men in the world. Can he have been as colossally stupid as it would take, to maintain relations with Epstein, then lie about them, and solidly keep lying? Can he really have forwarded confidential trade documents to Epstein, which seems the most likely basis for this charge? Even supposing him to be immeasurably infantile and greedy, could he be this foolish? What's he been doing with his money to need this kind of friend?
The King says what he must say, and it's true: The law must take its course.
The strange thing is this; in principle I am against the idea of monarchy, though I do see how it could be a waymarker for a nation, maybe even a binding power among disparate groups within the whole, the person who is and always will be above party politics, the person who exists to be your group egregore, the embodiment of your values, people, land. I can see it as a poetic conceit, maybe even a spiritual one. But I have never agreed with the inherent inequality of it, and royal finances need a proper squint, for they seem singularly obtuse. Yet somehow the death of the queen sealed my place as an Elizabethan, rather than a Carolingian or a Williamite. Do I miss her, do I feel for her? Probably not, but I do feel for the times she represented. And I am glad, for the sake of fond mums everywhere, that she was not around to see her favourite boy's disgrace splashed on the front page of every paper.
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Date: 2026-02-19 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-19 05:08 pm (UTC)Could he be this foolish? In a New York minute. I have nothing against the Windsors generally, here at constitution's-length distance, but they're not known for brains. Add Andrew's entitlement and irresponsibility and it would amaze me if he didn't screw up on the regular.