Prince Andrew is said to be “probably very, very depressed” about not being included in the Order of the Garter procession.
Prince Andrew is said to be ‘probably very, very depressed’ about not being included in the Order of the Garter procession
The scandal-hit Duke of York – who is no longer a working royal after his links to paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein were exposed – attended a lunch for the event in his role as a Royal Knight Companion but was not permitted to join the event on Monday (19.06.23), which was attended by royals including the Prince and Princess of Wales and Princess Anne.
Editor-in-Chief of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Seward, 75, told GB News as Andrew’s absence made headlines she thought he was “completely lost” but “unable to do anything” about being left out of the procession at Windsor’s St George’s Chapel.
She added: “Especially seeing all his family riding at the trooping on Saturday when only a few years before he was doing the same thing.”
Andrew stepped down as a working royal in 2019 over his link to convicted paedophile Epstein, and in 2022 paid an out-of-court settlement to Virginia Roberts, 39, who claims she was made to have sex with the prince when she was a teenager – which he has repeatedly denied.
Ingrid added about Andrew: “He’s never known anything else except military and royal and he’s not adaptable, he’s not popular and therefore he hasn't been able to find anything else in his life as far as we know.
“He really is in a gilded cage and unable really to do anything and I do have a smidgen of sympathy for him… I think he just doesn't understand what he’s done. I do feel he’s completely lost and I’m sure he’s probably very, very depressed, especially seeing all his family riding at the trooping (the colour) on Saturday when only a few years before he was doing the same thing.”
In a discussion with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, Ingrid went on: “Andrew is very entitled, and this is part of his problem. But I think Charles is actually protecting him, because if he walked down the castle to St George’s Chapel in the garter ceremony today, he could be booed.
“It would just not look right, so he cannot be seen, but he’s still there. It’s really up to Andrew has to find some sort of life for himself.”
Ingrid also advised the duke to follow the example set by John Profumo, the politician who was embroiled in one of the biggest sex scandals of the 20th century and later redeemed himself through charity work
She said: “I think he’s very miserable. He doesn’t have the inner resources that perhaps other people have and I just always think of the Profumo scandal and how John Profumo actually went and did huge charity work very, very quietly, to kind of redeem himself to himself.
“But we haven't seen Andrew do anything. So I think he needs to have some focus to his life.”
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