A 66-year-old man, slumped in the back of a car, on his way home from a police station after being questioned for 10 hours.
At best it sounds grim. At worst, it could be a photograph that ultimately serves to bring down the royal family. Royal experts believe the royals have never experienced a crisis as severe as this.
“If ever a picture spoke a thousand words, it was the photo of Andrew being driven away after a whole day of questioning by police,” royal columnist Phil Dampier tells Woman’s Day.
“Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor looked like a frightened rabbit caught in the headlights; a broken man whether he is eventually charged or not. Slumped in the back seat of a car, he left Aylsham police station in Norfolk, his face eerily lit up by photographers flashbulbs.”
Emily Maitlis, who did the now infamous “car crash” Newsnight interview with Andrew in 2019, agrees Andrew’s arrest is going to be extremely hard for the royal family to recover from.
“I am stunned,” she told ABC Radio National. “It is virtually unheard of. The last time a royal was arrested was King Charles the First in 1647, and he was beheaded, and that was briefly the end of the monarchy. So to say this is a crisis moment, I think doesn’t begin to cover it.”
King Charles and Camilla both attended planned royal duties yesterday, but were “shouted at and heckled while out and about,” confirms Phil. “No-one knows what the future holds for them, or for Andrew, who looked exhausted.”
While it’s possible that no charges will be brought against the disgraced Duke of York and he will return to obscurity at Sandringham in Norfolk, stripped of his titles and dignity, it’s equally possible that he could be found guilty of misconduct and go to prison, possibly for many years.
“The big question is whether the monarchy can survive and what should King Charles and his heir Prince William do now?” says Phil. “This is just the beginning of a scandal which could drag on for months, if not years.”
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