Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his navy titles and honours however one act this week exhibits he nonetheless doesn’t perceive why, argues Chris Riches.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor sporting a Grenadier Guards jumper (Picture: Marcin Nowak/LNP)
From Waterloo to Sevastopol, Ypres to Anzio and Iraq to Afghanistan, the Grenadier Guards is essentially the most senior infantry regiment of the British Military – high of the Infantry Order of Priority. In 1656, Lord Wentworth’s Regiment was raised in Bruges to guard the exiled Charles II and in 1665 it turned the first Regiment of Foot Guards, earlier than some troops break up off into the Irish Guards in 1900 and Welsh Guards in 1915.
In December 2017 the then Duke of York inherited the colonelcy of the celebrated infantry regiment from Prince Philip earlier than it was stripped from him, in January 2022, when 150 veterans pleaded with the late Queen to take away his eight navy appointments. So think about these heroic veteran guards’ heartbreak to see that chest-swelling, proud regiment’s badge on a jumper this week … worn by the disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The 65 year-old was captured on digital camera on Monday on the wheel of a Vary Rover close to the Lengthy Stroll in Windsor, sporting a burgundy Grenadier Guards jumper bearing the regiment’s cypher.
Consider the centuries of valour tied to that badge…
Within the early 1700s, the first Foot Guards had the Military’s most celebrated soldier, the Duke of Marlborough, as its colonel. Marlborough had began his navy profession in 1667 as an ensign within the regiment.
The Grenadiers boast 78 battle honours for its involvement in conflicts together with the Warfare of the Spanish Succession, (1701–1714); the Warfare of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748); and the Napoleonic Wars, together with the Peninsular Warfare (1808–1814).
Following Napoleon’s escape from exile, the regiment famously defeated the Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard at Waterloo (1815). In recognition of this momentous achievement, it adopted that unit’s bearskin headdress and a flaming grenade as its cap badge.
This occasion additionally prompted its grenadier title. Nonetheless, it wasn’t till 1877 that its title formally modified to the Grenadier Guards.
Then the Crimean Warfare (1854–1855) – Alma, Inkerman and Sevastopol – the Egyptian Warfare (1882); the Sudan Campaigns of 1885 and 1898 and the Second Boer Warfare (1889–1902).
Then got here the First World Warfare (Western Entrance) (1914–1918); the Second World Warfare (North Africa, Italy, Northwest Europe) (1939–1945) and the Persian Gulf Warfare (1990–1991).
Andrew in his uniform as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards at 2019’s Trooping The Color (Picture: Getty Photographs)
Extra not too long ago it additionally served throughout the conflicts in Iraq (2006) and Afghanistan (2007, 2009-10 and 2012).
The Grenadier Guards has obtained 14 Victoria Crosses (VCs), together with one awarded to James Ashworth in 2012, making him the latest Guardsman to earn the honour.
James, 23, was killed in Afghanistan on 13 June 2012 as he led his fireplace crew in an assault on an enemy-held compound.
Their motto ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ means “Disgrace be to him who thinks evil of it.”
There isn’t a disgrace on that badge – however when Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor wears it on his jumper, his personal shameful hyperlinks to evil paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein stain it.
In 2019, Andrew informed BBC Newsnight he broke off his friendship with Epstein in December 2010, after the 2 males had been photographed collectively strolling in New York.
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However new emails reveal he wrote to Epstein after the photograph was printed, saying: “It could appear we’re on this collectively and must rise above it. In any other case preserve in shut contact and we’ll play some extra quickly!!!!”
Queen Camilla is now the Grenadiers’ Colonel-In-Chief. I’m wondering if she noticed that image of Andrew in his jumper this week … and had her head in her palms.
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