Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, who raised a bill in parliament seeking to strip the royal of his Duke of York title, said “any perceived public rehabilitation” for Prince Andrew would be “unpalatable”. She said: “Any public rehabilitation of the Duke of York is certainly not something the country as a whole would welcome at all.
“The Duke carried an ambassadorial role across the world and to be represented by someone with a questionable past, certainly for the people of the country that I represent, is not something we want. People have welcomed the slimming down of the monarchy, both in terms of royals and vast numbers of staff working for them. And with an increased cost of monarchy, up to record figures this year, at a time of great hardship for so many millions of people across our country, this is not something the country is looking for.
“Any rehabilitation process in terms of a public role for Prince Andrew would be unpalatable, especially when the questionable acts that he was accused of involved the possible sexual misconduct against vulnerable women. We want to make sure the rights of women are upheld and I don’t think we can have confidence that those would be a priority if Prince Andrew was welcomed back into any public role whatsoever.”
Manu Reid, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, said: “Women and everyone who believes in standards in public life deserves better than this. A lot of what the monarchy does is about symbolism. If the monarchy rushes to rehabilitate a member who, whatever else he did or didn’t do, brought two paedophiles into its inner circles and gave them credibility, it will symbolise contempt for the victims of those paedophiles and for the victims of violence and exploitation everywhere.”
Meanwhile, well placed sources have revealed how the Duke of York’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who is staying at Balmoral with the royals, alongside Andrew and their children has been the “life and soul” of family gatherings. One Balmoral insider said “Fergie” had been seen talking to the King and Prince William on “several separate occasions”.
The recent developments have given rise to the theory that Fergie has been a “broker” of her former husband’s brief resurgence among the family. Insiders also suggested the Duke would be buoyed by the family show of support after being forced to miss public events and stand aside from all royal duties over his friendship with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The King has had several conversations with his brother and decided, while he will not return to public duties as would be the Duke’s preference, he should be welcomed back into the fold. A source said: “The King feels he has an awful lot on his in-tray and this is one issue he wants to draw a line under.” Neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace commented.
