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The Duke of York and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson traveled to Balmoral soon after Virginia Giuffre filed her lawsuit in New York federal court. There has been mixed reporting about how and why Prince Andrew and Fergie went to Balmoral – some sources say that the Queen and her advisors demanded that Andrew come to Balmoral for crisis talks, other sources say that Andrew was always due to come at that moment. British media outlets were also at a loss as to how Andrew traveled to Scotland, whether he took a private plane, whether he drove, etc. Surprisingly, there have been no photos of Andrew in or around Balmoral since his arrival last week. Now we know why: the Daily Beast has an exclusive report about how the Queen’s lawyers sent out notices to media outlets that no one should take or publish photos of the family at Balmoral. The notices were sent out on the day Andrew arrived.
British media organizations hoping to snap a picture of a disgraced Prince Andrew holidaying at his mother’s private Scottish residence have been warned off by the queen, The Daily Beast can exclusively reveal. Lawyers from British firm Farrer & Co, acting for Her Majesty, wrote to major British newspapers warning the publications against taking or publishing pictures of the royal family or their guests at Balmoral the same day that Andrew arrived there.
Sources at the palace confirmed to The Daily Beast that the letters were sent out to media organizations, but they added that similar letters were sent “every holiday” and that it was therefore not remarkable. However, the queen has been on holiday in Balmoral since July 24 and the letter was only sent on August 10, just one day after a bombshell civil lawsuit was filed accusing Andrew of raping Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
The timing of the letter being sent the day after the lawsuit landed is likely to fuel speculation that the queen is using her enormous domestic influence to protect her favorite son. A source at one paper speculated that the intention of the royals may be to protect Andrew from being pictured being served with legal papers. Although Boies conceded in a BBC interview that it is not necessary for Andrew to be physically served with the papers, the palace is believed by some journalists to be acting out of an abundance of caution for fear that Boies could stage such a spectacle anyway to humiliate Andrew.
Andrew, perhaps not entirely coincidentally, has not been seen at Crathie Kirk, a small church near Balmoral habitually visited by the royals, since he arrived at Balmoral. The church is located on public land and therefore exposes Andrew to being photographed and/or served papers, the source pointed out.
Andrew, accompanied by his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, made a beeline for Balmoral on Tuesday 10 August, the day after news of the civil suit broke and British newspapers were desperate for clues on his reaction. That same day, the letter was sent out. Staffers at one major tabloid newspaper were sent a memo by their own legal department recapping the warning, which has been passed to The Daily Beast.
The memo says that the newspaper has been contacted “by solicitors acting on behalf of HM the Queen, her family and the Balmoral Estate” where the queen is now in residence along with unnamed other members of the royal family and invited guests. The memo says that the newspaper has been “reminded” by the solicitors that Balmoral “is a private estate and whilst there the Royal Family and their guests have a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
A British newspaper editor told The Daily Beast: “I’ve never seen a warning like this before from the queen’s lawyers. It’s clearly to keep people away from Prince Andrew. There is no coincidence in the timing coming after Virginia Roberts filed her lawsuit against Andrew.”
[From The Daily Beast]
All of the Sussex Squad peeps on my timeline pointed out that the Queen never, ever used her lawyers to protect the Duchess of Sussex at any time, not even when Meghan was pregnant and being smeared daily. It’s true. I would also argue that the Queen has never really used her lawyers to protect anyone in the family except Andrew, her favorite. And personally, I don’t even think this legal notice was the Queen’s move. The summer of 2019, the summer of Jeffrey Epstein’s mysterious death in jail, the Queen was seen on church-rides with Andrew constantly. She didn’t give a f–k. I would imagine she still doesn’t give a f–k. The legal notices strike me as the courtiers trying to protect the Queen from herself – they don’t want the Crown damaged by the Queen’s need to protect Andrew and make appearances in public with Andrew. Her advisors know that if the Queen had her way, she would be going to church every day with Andrew beside her, in full view of the cameras.
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