Mail: There’s no hope for Prince Andrew’s comeback now that Virginia Giuffre is dead

Virginia Giuffre passed away last Thursday. She died by suicide, leaving behind three children. Her family confirmed her passing, and as I said in my coverage over the weekend, I genuinely feel like Virginia was really struggling with her mental health this year. Once I had processed my sadness over Virginia’s passing, I thought about Prince Andrew. Andrew was recently allowed to celebrate the Easter holiday with his family, including King Charles, Queen Camilla and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. The Easter service in Windsor was just a short distance from his mansion on the Royal Windsor estate, a mansion in which he’s lived comfortably for decades. While Andrew is no longer a “working royal,” he’s always trying to launch a comeback. And I think now, after Virginia’s passing, he will try again. But royal commentators are falling all over themselves to say that of course Andrew will never be allowed to do royal work:

Royal experts believe the Prince Andrew will only face further turmoil in the wake of Virginia Giuffre’s death and claimed that he will need to show he has ‘genuine regrets’ if he ever wants to play a public role again.

Author and journalist Tom Bower told MailOnline: ‘Virginia Giuffre’s death won’t relieve the pressure on Prince Andrew but have an opposite effect. People will feel even more sympathy for the woman whose abominable treatment by Epstein and Maxwell tormented her to this sad end.’

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams added: ‘The tragic death of Virginia Giuffre marks the end of a life which was scarred by the abuse she suffered. Recent events, when she was supposedly involved in a car crash, raised questions over her state of mind. Her suicide is especially sad as she was a survivor of abuse. There are several problems for Andrew if he has any hope of rehabilitation or of appearing at any royal event other than one held in a church. Firstly the way he has handled the accusations against him has been so unbelievably cataclysmic that, in opinion polls, his support hardly exists. No one has forgotten the interview on Newsnight that was so catastrophic, that the English language lacks words to describe its ghastliness adequately.’

Mr Fitzwilliams continued: ‘The idea of him having a job helping to manage the royal estates made sense but not, it seems, to him. In fact things have got, if anything, worse. Andrew appears bereft of dignity and is undoubtedly a walking disaster. The York brand remains toxic which is extremely sad for his family. He obviously feels this deeply, but if he wants to know the reason for his travails, all he needs to do is to look in the mirror. If he ever is to hope for rehabilitation of some sort, and he is only 65, he needs a radical rethink and for it to be believed that he has genuine regrets. This most emphatically does not appear to be the case at the moment.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I actually think the moment for Andrew to express regrets has long passed – the time to do it was when Virginia was alive and when she was suing him in American court. Instead, Andrew has spent years dodging FBI questioning and he paid eight figures to make Virginia go away. Money which he “borrowed” from QEII, money which he still hasn’t paid back. But as I said, despite all of the performative “of course he can’t come back” commentary, I believe that Andrew will absolutely try to launch yet another comeback.

Interestingly, Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast basically did his own editorial about how “the damage that sordid episode caused is set in concrete…Public sympathy will henceforth and forever lie with Giuffre.” Sykes wrote that “Any notion that Andrew might one day clear his name or return to public life had long been viewed as remote. It is now impossible….Prince Andrew’s name is irrevocably tarnished with a stigma that will follow him for life. He is finished.” I’m starting to get the idea that these royalists/commentators are not really speaking TO Andrew, but rather King Charles. As in, they’re telling Buckingham Palace: don’t even try it, don’t even attempt to soft-launch Andrew’s comeback.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.