By DANICA KIRKA, Related Press
LONDON (AP) — How do you resolve an issue like Prince Andrew?
That’s the query dealing with King Charles III because the drama surrounding his 64-year-old brother roils Britain and the monarchy as soon as once more.
Within the newest episode, a Chinese language businessman has been barred from the U.Ok. due to issues he cultivated hyperlinks with Andrew in an alleged effort to affect British elites on behalf of the Chinese language Communist Get together. The person, recognized Monday as Yang Tengbo, mentioned he wasn’t concerned in espionage and had “done nothing wrong or unlawful.”
The allegations characterize essentially the most high-profile instance to this point of a menace intelligence officers have repeatedly warned about: China’s rising efforts to secretly affect politicians and different members of the British institution to assist the nation’s expansionist insurance policies.
Queen Elizabeth II stripped Andrew of his royal duties and charity roles, however the unflattering headlines saved coming. Extra lately, Charles has tried to influence his brother to chop his bills by leaving the sprawling royal property he occupies west of London and shifting to a cottage contained in the safety perimeter of Windsor Fort. However Andrew stays ensconced on the 30-room Royal Lodge.
The king must take extra aggressive motion to maintain Andrew out of the general public eye, similar to barring him from processions and different royal occasions, mentioned Ed Owens, writer of “After Elizabeth: Can the Monarchy Save Itself?’’
FILE — King Charles III attends the ceremonial welcome and Parliamentary reception at the Australian Parliament House on October 21, 2024, in Canberra, Australia. The King’s visit to Australia is his first as monarch, and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa will be his first as head of the Commonwealth. (Photo by Victoria Jones – Pool/Getty Images)
While Andrew said in a statement that nothing sensitive was ever discussed and that he ceased contact with the Chinese businessman as soon as concerns were raised, his constant brushes with scandal tarnish the work of the royal family, Owens said.
“Andrew is toxic and he is very much damaged goods,” he added. “He can only, through his behavior, further undermine the reputation of the monarchy. It’s in the king’s best interest, it’s in the best interests of the future of the monarchy, for Andrew to take a step back.”
Scandal fuels anti-monarchy criticism
Britain’s most outstanding anti-monarchy group used the newest scandal to name for a parliamentary inquiry into alleged royal corruption.
“When a Chinese spy befriends a royal, they want access to the British state. We must know if the royals have given them what they want,” mentioned Graham Smith, chief of Republic, which seeks to interchange the monarchy with an elected head of state.
Andrew has turn out to be a cautionary story concerning the temptations and pitfalls of recent royalty.
When Andrew was born he was second in line to the throne, the proverbial spare who was there to step in if catastrophe struck the inheritor, his brother Charles. However after Charles married, Andrew’s place dropped with each new baby and grandchild. He now stands at eighth place within the royal pecking order.
The Epstein scandal prices Andrew his job
Whereas different senior royals spend a lot of their time opening recreation facilities and assembly group leaders on behalf of their extra exalted relations, Andrew initially took on larger duties.
After 22 years within the Royal Navy, together with fight operations as a helicopter pilot throughout the Falklands Warfare, Andrew was named Britain’s particular consultant for worldwide commerce and funding in 2001.
However he was compelled to step down in 2011 amid rising concern about his friendship with Epstein, who had been sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading responsible to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Andrew had additionally been criticized for assembly with the son of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and the son-in-law of ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Even earlier than that, some members of Parliament had raised issues concerning the sale of Andrew’s former house, Sunninghill Park, to a son-in-law of former Kazakh ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2007. The customer allegedly paid $19 million— hundreds of thousands greater than the asking value.
However Andrew’s hyperlinks to Epstein have been his largest drawback.
The disastrous BBC interview
Amid the backlash, Andrew introduced on Nov. 20, 2019, that he was stepping away from royal duties “for the foreseeable future.” In an announcement, he known as his affiliation with Epstein “a major disruption to my family’s work.”
However that didn’t finish the scandal.
In August 2021, one among Epstein’s victims sued Andrew in a New York courtroom, alleging that the prince had intercourse along with her when she was underage. Andrew denied the allegations, however he was stripped of all army affiliations and royal charity work because the case moved by means of the authorized course of.
Netflix movie brings a worldwide viewers
Even now, Andrew’s interview haunts the prince and the royal household. It resurfaced earlier this 12 months within the Netflix film “Scoop,” reminding a worldwide viewers of his missteps.
“He has consistently used his privileged position and his power to cozy up to convicted sex offenders, Chinese spies — in pursuit of his own interests, whether it’s about expanding his own influence or indeed extending his own business interests,’’ Owens said. “That’s the problem here, that he’s used the position given to him by birth to seek out these opportunities.”
