Prince Andrew's job involves consorting with dictators while selling British arms. He was once only two heartbeats away from being Australian head of state. Barry Everingham tells us more.
The burning question of just what is the Queen’s nationality festers away in the background. Republicans of course reject outright and without reservation the Monarchist’s fantasy that the Queen of England is in fact an Australian—and a Canadian, a New Zealander and, for God’s sake, a citizen of the other dozen or so countries where she happens to be head of state!
Pure bunkum.
However, let’s hear it from the membership Flat Earth Society where this leaves the Queen’s children—do they hold multi-citizenships like their Mum?
Now, the Queen’s second son, Andrew, Duke of York, swans around the world flogging British expertise and promoting British products. That’s his job, that’s what he gets paid for.
In a telling and well researched piece in yesterday’s Herald Sun newspaper, opinion writer Alan Howe didn’t pull any punches; the lad is never backwards in coming forward when he has view to express.
Refereeing to “Randy Andy” as the none-too-bright middle son who flirts with tyrants, Howe says the Duke is a mate of Muammar Gaddafi’ s son, Saif Gaddafi, and the son won’t be on the guest list for the upcoming wedding.
But, according to Howe, the Kings of Thailand and Malaysia and the Emperor Japan will be along with Julia Gillard and the Governor General.
And so will the King of Jordan, the Crown prince of Abu Dhabi and that shameless bigamist the Sultan of Brunei. Andrew swans around impressing ingrates like the Saudi royal family and takes his order book with him.
Howe again: the deals to sell British fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia, with perhaps 85 billion pounds, have been described as the “biggest sale ever of anything to anyone”.
And Alan Howe says, it’s been claimed that BAE used a 20 million pounds slush fund to assist with the deal. That buys a lot of stuff, perhaps even prostitutes.
You would expect the British Parliament to sack Prince Andrew as their trade ambassador wouldn’t you?
However, when former Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant MP's called for just that, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Mr Bercow, gagged Bryant up for apparently breaking rules banning MPs from criticising royals in the Commons. They are above reproach, it seems.
Understandably, Graham Smith, a spokesman for the UK Republic group, has called for Prince Andrew to be sacked because of because of “his relationships with the Gaddafi family and other characters with questionable reputations”.
“We welcome Chris Bryant’s call for Andrew to be sacked and we will seek to hold the Prime Minister for his promise to look into the matter,” said Graham Smith.
And Mr. Smith went a step further.
“We are appalled that Speaker Bercow suggested that our elected politicians should refrain from seeking to hold to account members of the royal family."
It is clear” Mr Smith said,” that Andrew is not suitable for this role, so the only question remains is: why is he still UKTI trade ambassador. We can only conclude that is because he’s the son of the Queen".
“Such bare-faced nepotism is something you might expect in Libya, not in the UK.”
Back to where I came in.
If the Queen of England is an Australian, Andy should be Duke of somewhere here—what about Duke of Woolloomooloo?
And some of that largesse could be channelled into something useful here – housing for the homeless, donations to the Salvation Army – the list is potentially endless.
But wait, the Queen is not Australian and Andy ain’t the Duke of anywhere remotely relevant to here—so why do we bother with all this nonsense. It does nothing for us whatsoever.
Never has, never will.
