Britain's Prince Andrew suddenly announced on Friday that he would give up the two titles "Duke of York" and "Court Knight", which comes out, many people are asking, why sooner? after all, against his sexual assault accusations, the outside world actually knows many years ago.
Coincidentally, American victim Virginia Giffrey's book "No Man's Daughter" had just been published, and the book was only released six months after her death.
Andrew's abandonment of his title at this time seemed to be a bit of "hiding from the limelight".
It’s more like throwing a burden.
Andrew said in his statement that the decision was made after consultation with King Charles and said that he would "put his responsibilities to the family and the country first," but he never admitted Giffrey's accusations from beginning to end, which sounded a little false.
"The Duke of York" is the title he was born, "Court Knight" is also the highest-ranking knight's honor in England, these two titles say throw and throw, the surface is wrong, actually more like trying to clean up the scandal with yourself.
I wanted to think he was "responsible", but later I found out that he was not at all. For so many years, no matter how fierce the accusations were, he would stick to his title.
Now Gifrey's book shakes out the details, and the lawmakers also call for a change in the law to deprive him of the title, which is easy, and it is clear that this is not the initiative, it is forced to do nothing.
The scandal timeline cannot be hidden anymore
To understand this, we have to go ahead, in 2011, the British Sunday Post posted photos of Andrew and Gifrey, when the matter was small.
What's even more outrageous is that the day after the group photo was published, Andrew also sent an email to Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy American businessman, with the signature written "A, His Royal Highness the Duke of York, Knight of the Garter."
He also said that he had broken contact with Epstein 12 weeks earlier, but in the mail he wrote "we have to go together, we have to overcome the difficulties", and finally added "otherwise stay in close contact, we will soon play a few more!!!!".
This is really uncomfortable to see now, in 2014, when Gifrey was in love with Epstein, also mentioned Andrew's case, as a result the judge said "not related and inappropriate to this case", rejecting the accusation.
I have not yet understood this logic, trafficking itself is a crime, and it doesn’t matter to whom the victim was trafficked.
Why didn't I see the collective costume?
First, the level of law and power was somewhat "guarding" him, the rumor that the late Queen of England had taken 12 million pounds to Andrew for a reconciliation to help him suppress Gifrey's civil lawsuit.
If this rumor is true, then ordinary people are not treated like this. The gap between the powerful and ordinary people is suddenly obvious. Besides, there was no law in England before that the king or parliament could deprive the royal title.
Only now have members called for a change, which has led Andrew to continue to "support the scene" with his title. Let's talk about the attitude of the media and everyone, except BBC reporter Emily Metlis, a few people are watching this matter.
Most media only dare to mention "rumors" and dare not dig deep. Everyone also acquiesces that "this kind of powerful scandal will definitely go away in the end". Even if they know that Giffrey may not lie, no one wants to come forward and be serious.
From this point of view, it's not that no one knows, but that everyone is used to "pretending not to see".
What is the difficulty in holding powerful people accountable?
Andrew this is not an individual case, look at the Epstein case and know that Epstein has long been engaged in sexual transactions, committed suicide in prison in 2019, with which he has a relationship with more than Andrew one, but in the end really was charged with a few.
No matter where you are, it is difficult for powerful people to be held accountable. Compare this to the British royal family, Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 due to marital problems.
But Andrew was involved in sexual assault allegations, but it took so many years to abandon his title, and the handling was not a little bad. Some polls show that after Andrew's scandal came out.
The British people's support for the royal family has dropped a lot, especially young people, who are questioning "royal privileges." The despair that Giffrey wrote in "No Man's Daughter" cannot be erased by throwing a title.
She wrote Andrew knew she was 17 years old, and also said "how many years older than her daughter", and then said only "thank you", that kind of "born right" attitude, reading is painful.
Now Andrew threw the title, as if it had passed, but those hidden truths, the voices of the victims, could not disappear.
Undoubtedly, the thing to think about is not Gifrey, but those who “do not see,” and the system that has not managed to keep up with power, if the next time this happens again, or no one is more true, the victim will never have a chance to speak, which is the most terrifying.