Prince Andrew Will Get To Keep One Of His Military Titles After All
Prince Andrew officially settled Virgnia Giuffre’s sexual assault lawsuit a couple of weeks ago, thus skillfully avoiding an embarrassing courtroom trial. Hey, come on – don’t laugh. It takes plenty of skill for an allegedly broke rich guy to convince their mom to loan them a couple million for a public payout. So now Prince Andrew is no longer Queen Elizabeth’s son Andrew, the Duke of York, but just Liz’s plain ol’ disgraced son. And as such, he isn’t being fully erased out of the Royal Family’s scrapbook just yet. Andrew lost all of his military titles and patronages when Virginia’s lawsuit was still active. But now that it’s been settled? Look who is getting one of those little military titles back.
Back in January, Queen Elizabeth – by way of Buckingham Palace’s official spokesperson – released a statement announcing that she was stripping Prince Andrew of all military titles and royal patronages and that they would all be returned to her majesty The Queen. As you may recall, before Andrew’s personal brand was BFF of sex traffickers and man of suspiciously moisture-free armpits, he was Prince Andrew, Falklands Islands Military Hero. Andrew legitimately saw combat and took his military thing very seriously. Serious enough that he allegedly needed to play military dress-up at his father’s funeral last year (but was effectively denied). Prince Andrew probably spent hours practicing his speech in the mirror. “You can take my Swiss ski chalet, you can take my teddy bears, you can even take Fergie and tell her to stop doing damage control for me. But you can never take my military “career”!!” I don’t know if he ever performed such a monologue for his mother, but we do know that he isn’t completely void of military fluffing. via The Mirror UK:
Prince Andrew is “broken” following his legal settlement with his sex accuser, sources claim.
The Duke of York is said to be in such low spirits he has been allowed to keep the title of Vice Admiral to cheer him up.
Andrew was stripped of his other titles amid the furor over allegations that he had sex with a trafficked teenager in London – which he strenuously denies.
The rank of Vice Admiral, equivalent to an Army Lieutenant General, is now his only armed forces honorary title.
According to The Mirror, it was allegedly Queen Elizabeth’s decision to allow him to keep the title.
When Andrew allegedly demanded to dress up for Prince Philip’s funeral last year, it was said that he wanted to wear an Admiral’s uniform, despite not being a full-fledged Admiral. So obviously being Admiral-adjacent is very important to him, and for the current time and foreseeable future, Prince Andrew is an Honorary Vice Admiral. But will getting that fake-sounding, questionably-earned title really lift Prince Andrew’s spirits in his time of need? Yeah, apparently. According to a source who spoke with The Mirror, getting to play pretend Vice Admiral will put some pep back in his step.
A source who served with him during the Falklands War said: “He is down, he is broken. If he wants to dress up once in a while in a naval uniform, then let him. He was actually not a bad person when I knew him. He had a few entitlement issues but that is to be expected. His reputation is in tatters, his public life is over. He is a walking embarrassment.”
See, it’s funny. “Walking embarrassment” actually feels like a more appropriate title. And unlike Vice Admiral, it’s a title Andrew fully earned all on his own, with no help from his parents!
Pic: INSTAR