Summary
Police say King Charles’s brother is in custody and officers are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk - read the police statement in full
As a British person that’s something I thought I’d never see.
Arrested on his birthday too.
The late queen’s protection of him was a blemish on her record. I’m happy the king has cut him loose to face consequences… I wonder if they asked him before the arrest…
Almost certainly; Andrew lives on Charles’ private estate.
As a one of her foreign subjects. May I say god save the Queen, because nothing will save the Governor General.
Fuck the queen, fuck the monarchy.
And what a record it was! Empire’s torture, internment and state killings, racist borders and racist policing, catastrophic wars sold on certainty they didn’t have, colonialism and ethnic cleansing and genocides, a little bit of family racism drama as a cherry on top, and a strong propaganda machine to sell her as a sweet old woman without much power and to ensure people still defend her and worship her.
Her record was too tarnished to blemish.
I’m not British but I’m also very surprised. I can’t help but wonder if they would have dared had he still had his title?
on his birthday too.
The cops took the phrase “the icing on the cake” literally, and I think it was an excellent choice.
I can’t help but wonder if they would have dared had he still had his title?
I would assume that the king and other interested parties will have known this was coming for a while and that is why he lost his title.
Maybe, I’m not so sure. I had thought they knew it was very likely the accusations were true, but they spent a lot of time sidestepping action. If public criticism hadn’t been so relentless, they might have been content to sweep it under the rug, as is tradition.
But I have never kept close track of the royal family, largely because I always assumed they were untouchable.
they spent a lot of time sidestepping action
That’s sort of my point though, they spent years protecting him and then suddenly a few months ago something made them turn on a dime and strip him of his titles very rapidly. I suspect that “something” was being told the police had enough evidence to arrest him.
Someone asked Ernest Hemingway how he lost all his money.
“Gradually, then all at once.”
Same situation. One person says something and it’s dismissed. Ten people say it and it becomes gossip fodder. A hundred people say it and it becomes an open secret. A million people say it and he gets arrested.
That’s fair. At the time I thought it might be because they were struggling to deal with both the Andrew situation and the Harry drama simultaneously, while Charles was generally more unpopular than his mother, and likely ill.
But if they privately found out something that made the Andrew situation untenable, it makes sense that they would try to distance that ASAP. I wonder whether it’s something that has been released already or is even worse.
Charles’ statement today on “we support the police”, plus letting them search The Lodge, definitely feels like they’re leaving him to rot. At least maybe a little.
Charles has always hated and envied Andrew. He removed him from Royal duties as soon as he had the power to do so.
What did he envy him for?
Charles has a complex that his parents never loved him, and merely bred him to be Sovereign. It’s why he still refuses to move in to Buckingham Palace. Andrew was unquestionably Elizabeth’s favourite child, with his frequent failures and bankruptcies excused and waved away.
Meanwhile, Charles believes he was forced into an arranged marriage, and when that failed he was forbidden to marry the person he had always loved, with the Queen even refusing to be in the same building for a long time, despite the requirement for an heir and a spare already having been settled.
Andrew was allowed to saddle the family with Fergie without consequence. But Fergie is an entertaining grifter, while Camilla is known as the “laziest woman in England” by her friends, so it’s not surprising she never got on with someone so duty-bound as Elizabeth.
You do not know these people. This is knitting circle talk. Charles removed Andrew because of Epstein and other local infractions, as well as knowledge of him sharing state secrets.
This is detailed in Tom Bower’s thoroughly researched book.
The law wanted to send a clear message, just 25 years too late.
Blame Queen Elizabeth. She was more interested in preserving the monarchy than Andrew’s victims. There has to be a better way to promote tourism.
Got to have a couple of examples of the rich and powerful going away for their crimes so the plebs don’t realise how stacked against them the system really is.
Arrested on his birthday too
surprise muthafucka
As an American citizen I’m wildly jealous.
The evidence is right there and we’re the only ones that don’t seem to give a s***.
Arrested on his birthday too.
Love seeing this creep go down.
As an American I find this confusing to arrest a rich, powerful person on criminal charges.
Especially a rich white person
A rich, white, pedophile! Arrested. Have they no respect? What will they do next… tax them?
They’re not going after him for Pedophilia.
Apparently as per the rationale of some very pro-Royal British newspapers, the police doesn’t have the resources to properly investigate and prosecute him for Pedophilia, even though according to the news just the other day they arrest 1000 people a year for that very crime.
Yes, I’ve read. I hope it’s one those “Al Capone arrested for Tax Evasion” things where they just went for the one that was easier to prove. I know very little about UK law, but I doubt he would have been arrested on those charges if he hadn’t been already disgraced.
But my joke was more on other rich, white, alleged pedophiles with ties to Epstein and the weird fact that people keep bringing those things up when the DOW is over 50000
trump/fElon next please
The grand old Duke of York
he had 12 million quid
He gave it to someone he’d never met
for something he never did
over the alleged sharing of confidential material by the former prince with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Really? Not because he’s a sex offender himself maybe? I’m happy to see an arrest, but fucking really!?
Because even in the Epstein files most people aren’t saying “ay Jeff, cheers for the fifteen year-old lasses we all shagged, see you next time,” but they are saying “here are the minutes of the cabinet meeting/this is what the prime minister thinks about regulating your company/this is the most he’s willing to give you a tax break for” in emails because that stuff had to be communicated somehow.
We can all see that Andrew probably committed some sex crimes. But being a suspicious creepy fucker, being accused, and having a photo of you crouching over a girl would not be enough evidence to get you or me charged with a crime either. The counterweight to “nobody is above the law” is “nobody shall be convicted except on the evidence.”
Yes, sadly, this will be about selling state secrets, not pedophilia. Of course, Trump did the same thing out of Maralago.
It’s sad that all too often there is insufficient evidence to charge people with sexual crimes, but he’s being charged with a very serious crime for which there apparently is sufficient evidence. It’s no competition, but betraying your country causes small amounts of harm to millions of people, which is not less important than causing extreme harm to a small number of people.
The worst part is that the evidence exists. It’s just that the US is doing nothing with it. The best anyone can do is sieve through the breadcrumbs they gave us and do the most we can with it.
Across the pond, whenever they’d get a big Mafia don, usually it wasn’t because of all the bodies in the river wearing concrete shoes. Usually, it was due to unpaid taxes or some white-collar bullshit. I guess they take what they can get?
Unfortunately, I fear most of the fallout from this will be that we “know” what some people did, but few will actually be held legally responsible. There’s the bar of proof that satisfies the public (the “sniff test?”), and what’s required for a conviction in court. In the end, any punishment is better than none. One up side could be that, because of what the public “knows” happened, those that are punished will hopefully be unlikely to see any lenience in sentencing. Not hopeful after seeing Maxwell’s treatment, but early days.
They probably have to start small, it’s unprecedented territory, and they’d want the proper charges to stick. I expect this also opens up the door to evidence gathering for the bigger charges.
There has been a significant development in that case, so that’s what they’re investigating.
I did not expect this.
Sadly, this proves that even the infamously evil ROYAL FAMILY has more integrity than Trump and our politicians (including Democrats).
Which is fucking terrifying, really. Brace yourselves, keep your chin up, and all of that
Note that he didn’t got arrested for the pedophilia part.
Also, this being Britain, best wait until the end of the trial to see if he gets convicted and if the sentence is in line with that for similar situations
When comes to nobles over there using the Justice System as a form of whitewash is pretty standard: there’s this story of some Peer getting convicted for a second time for Fraud and the high court judge letting him go without any penalty saying that “the shame of a conviction is enough”.
Funny how I knew it wasn’t in America not because of the name, but because someone in public office went into custody.
He’s being arrested for sharing official documents. Not the disgusting crimes he committed against children and/or women. It’s not real accountability, it’s theater meant to placate the angry masses.
I read some analysis on this in the guardian, it predicted this would happen, because the police have limited resources and can only follow up one of the two charges. This charge is chosen because there is far more likely to be incontrovertible evidence, probably in the form of paper trails etc. Whereas proving he raped children decades ago relies on witness testimony, which is far easier for his very expensive (taxpayer-funded, mind) lawyers to talk down in court.
If this cunt sees a single day in prison I call that a win.A good sentiment, though I suspect you shouldn’t hold your breath on the prison thing - he’s already been released from custody.
Of course he has. The law is made to protect him.
Go check out the fawning coverage of The Royals by The Guardian over the years.
It surprises me not at all that “on such an unfortunate occasion” The Guardian would be busy spinning a “reasonable” rationally for not taking to court a member of the Royal Family for those crimes which would result in a lot of dirty linen being washed in public.
“The policy have limited resources, nothing we can do about it, best let it go”
(Curiously, the police have the resources to, for example, go after people against the Genocide in Gaza as Terrorist Supporters or Demonstrators for “Disturbing Public Order”)
I’m in complete agreement
theater meant to placate the angry masses
Thousands of years into our civilization and the oldest tricks still work the best. The more things change and all that.
edit: that said, Epstein was almost definitely working as a double-agent between various organizations, maybe a quadruple agent or more, he wasn’t so well-connected and powerful just because he dealt children, he also dealt secrets between superpowers, so just having contact with him as a state official puts a massive spotlight on you as a security risk.
National governments care a lot more about you being a security risk than they do about you hurting kids.
Trump had crates full of official documents in his bathroom and nobody touched him in four years.
It’s likely all they have sufficient evidence to charge him with in their jurisdiction.
Yeah… but I have to assume, given the ruling-class solidarity, that that’s because they don’t adequately investigate the reports by the victimized women / children. I know that’s how it goes in the US.
There doesn’t really seem to much being shown here. They’ve not secretly come and arrested him quietly questioned him and released him and from the photos it doesn’t look like he’s been told “don’t worry it’s a dog and pony show, we’re just going through”
How far that stretches, we’ll have to see, I doubt he’ll see a cell but let’s give them some time to see how things develop.
I mean it’s obvious he’s disfavored by the “”“royal”“” family (sorry I’m partially Irish American so, genetically and historically predisposed to hate them), I assume he did indeed act without their approval or permission. I just don’t think he’ll ever be punished for victimizing women and children. I don’t think any of the Epstein class will be, unless some of them live to see the day where they all can be. (I think they’re too old and it’ll take us too long to get there.)
I’m normally optimistic but I don’t see it. If I’m wrong though, I’m ready and waiting for it.
The penalty is mostly fines. Even sharing military secrets in UK is only 2 years. WTF Brits.
OTOH - consider the plight of Manning and Snowden. Perhaps a penalty of 2 years would encourage whistleblowers?
Many Democrats have been arrested. The fascist political persecution is already in full swing.
Oh, I see, it’s funny because it’s not true! Ha ha! Ohhhhh
This should put enough pressure for Trump to be next, right my US American fiends?
You have to start by removing his title.
trump/fElon should both be in prison right now, but I dont see it happening
I think you play by different rules. The more mentioned points system means you get more protection in your version.
Finally! An arrest!
Meanwhile in america: {crickets, followed by a tumbleweed blowing across a sand covered road}
And that’s after the obese orange child rapist was best friends with Epstein for decades, and has been mentioned many thousands of times, with thousands of pictures, and numerous sexual accusations all in the Epstein files.
The fat cunt could shoot a baby live on TV and no fucker would do a thing about it.Yeah, but have you considered the Dow? The Dow is at 50$… or something.
It’s incredibly conspicuous that Trump hasn’t arrested anyone over this. He’ll take any opportunity to persecute his perceived enemies, and plenty of them are in the files. He sues people over absolutely nothing. It’s weird that not one prosecution has gone down. He’ll probably even pardon Maxwell.
HOLY CRAP IT’S REAL.
I didn’t believe it when I first saw it. FUCKING AWESOME.
He’s only 66?! Damn, he looks 80.
The Falklands war took a heavy toll on his physical and mental health.
One of his jobs as chopper pilot was to hover near ships, to use himself as a decoy to lure away heatseeker missiles. Enough to age anyone.
I wonder if this walking pile of stale bread is sweating now.
I wsn’t expecting to develop begrudging respect for England today.
Add South Korea to the list.
That also Filipinos have sent Duterte to The Hague.
Aaaaand they released him
They have to, this was for pre-charge questioning, and they have time limits on custody for that. They’ve also searched 3 of his properties and his former residence. The question now is when and if they formally charge him.
I am taking a wild guess that other kiddy diddlers do not get this luxury treatment.
He’s not getting out of the eventual trial, and considering the time frames I really doubt he’s winning.
The nonce formerly known as prince facing justice? Wow. I’m looking out of the window right now waiting for the pigs to fly by.
What concerns me more is preparing to deal with the monkeys that will be coming out of my butt.
there’s something clever in there, I can feel it… something something the difference between a nonce and a prince is PR… i…
needs work
I wonder if he’s finally sweating now.
Republicanists (no relation to the rotten GOP) are going to have a field day today.
It’s on the Beeb. Full throttle. https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=M5I5ATQy6zk
Also, he’s gonna be a fucking meme.
It does somewhat undermine their claims that the Royals are above the law
Charles is. The CPS prosecutes in his name.
None of the others are though.
I think it helps that his mother, of whom he was the favourite child is dead and can’t protect him anymore.
Andrew is not a royal. Charles had to remove his title.
Thats seperate. Only the Sovereign is “above the law” and that in effect just means Parliament would hold the trial rather than the judiciary.
