OPINION: Questions surrounding Andrew and Elizabeth call to mind a long-forgotten scandal.
Lesley Ann-Jones confronts the query everyone seems to be asking of Queen Elizabeth II (Picture: Day by day Mirror/Getty)
Sleepless nights, relentless fear and concern deeper than the blackest gap had been Queen Elizabeth’s expertise of loving Andrew. She was far nearer to her thirdborn than she had been to his siblings Charles and Anne. She had sympathy for his ‘spare’ dilemma, which echoed her father’s youth. She tingled with pleasure for the dashing Royal Navy helicopter pilot and Falklands hero who offset her disappointment in her marriage to Prince Philip.
Her affection for her ‘favorite’ little one was legendary. Hypothesis? Most of every part ever written and spoken about our beloved late monarch is. She by no means gave interviews, nor did she publish her memoirs. We knew her barely in any respect. Who was she alone in her mattress?
Learn extra: Andrew bombshell as Piers Morgan points brutal six-word blow to royals
What goals did she sacrifice for obligation, what hopes did she cherish for her kids? Her ideas and emotions are misplaced to time. She hailed from the period when household linen was not laundered in public. When obligation, discretion and loyalty eclipsed all else.
An infected mob now calls for transparency over her safety of her second son. How a lot did she know? Was she concerned within the concealment of a criminal offense? Why did she contribute hundreds of thousands to a girl her little one claimed by no means to have met for one thing he insists he by no means did?
It put me in thoughts of the case of Anthony Blunt. The late Queen allowed the tutorial and former British Military officer to proceed working for her as her artwork curator for years after he had confessed to having spied for Stalin.
In the direction of the tip of the Second World Battle, Blunt was dispatched on secret missions to Nazi Germany to retrieve artwork and treasure that had as soon as belonged to the British Crown. He additionally retrieved delicate paperwork together with letters, telegrams and paperwork between German brokers and the Duke of Windsor, the abdicated King Edward VIII.
Blunt secretly handed intelligence to his Soviet handlers, together with copies of that correspondence. The so-called Marburg and Windsor recordsdata had been later consigned to the royal archives.
The Queen’s affection for her favorite little one was legendary (Picture: Getty)
The Queen might have been conscious of Blunt’s exercise for the reason that early Nineteen Fifties, in response to declassified paperwork held on the Nationwide Archives. Blunt confessed to MI5 in 1964, however the scandal was contained. He continued in his position as Surveyor of the Queen’s Photos till 1972 and suggested Royal Assortment curators till 1978.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher uncovered him in 1979. The Queen stripped him of his knighthood and he died three years later.
The most recent information and gossip from the Royal Household plus chosen gives and competitions Subscribe Invalid e mail
We use your sign-up to supply content material in methods you’ve got consented to and to enhance our understanding of you. This will embrace adverts from us and third events primarily based on our understanding. You may unsubscribe at any time. Learn our Privateness Coverage
All so way back, and so irrelevant now. Or is it? If the Queen ever colluded in cover-ups, it might solely have been to guard the monarchy and preserve public help for the establishment and the mom of the nation: herself.
We get it. And is there a mum amongst us who wouldn’t cowl for a cherished son?
Leave a Reply