Expert Calls Out Prince Edward For His 'Pathetic Royal Reaction' to the Andrew Scandal
Instead of clarity or accountability, Edward’s comments on the scandal amounted to what a royal expert describes as a deeply flawed and tone-deaf.
Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of sexual abuse that some readers may find distressing.
Prince Edward may have broken the royal family’s long-held rule of ‘never complain, never explain,’ but according to royal commentator Tom Sykes, what followed was far from meaningful as he fell short of owning up. Instead of clarity or accountability, Edward’s comments on the Andrew-Epstein scandal amounted to what Sykes describes as a deeply flawed and tone-deaf intervention – one that said little, and yet managed to expose just how far the monarchy still is from confronting the issue head-on.
In response to Edward’s remarks, Skyes took to his Substack, noting that much of the British media rushed to applaud the Duke of Edinburgh for speaking at all. He was far less impressed. “The British media have rushed to salute Prince Edward (WHO? as football fans bellow en masse when an unknown player is subbed on by the other side) for what I found to be a notably mealy-mouthed and pathetic first royal public reaction to the new Epstein files,” Sykes wrote, adding that the documents “have exposed Andrew’s involvement in what looks very like a sex trafficking ring.”
For Sykes, Edward’s comments did not signal progress or accountability. Quite the opposite. “In the world of terrible royal non-apologies, this, for me, rather than representing some gleaming new era of accountability, is actually a new low,” he wrote.
Edward made the remarks while speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, where he was asked how he was coping with the renewed fallout from the Epstein revelations. Rather than addressing the substance of the allegations, Edward appeared to minimize the moment, suggesting the setting was ill-suited for the topic.
“Well, with the best will in the world, I’m not sure this is the audience that is probably the least bit interested in that,” Edward told the CNN journalist. “They all came here to listen to education, solving the future, but no, I think it’s all really important always to remember the victims, and who are the victims in all this? A lot of victims in this.” And it is the phrasing, about Edward's apparent uncertainty about who the victims were, that draws Skyes’s ire. While Edward spoke about the importance of remembering victims, Sykes argued that he simultaneously diluted the point by refusing to be specific.
“While talking about the need to ‘remember the victims,’ he seemed to question who they were,” Sykes wrote, before cutting to the heart of the issue. “WTF? Like, who else, other than the women and girls who were abused, are you thinking of, Edward? Come on, tell us!”
The criticism comes at a moment when the details emerging from the Epstein files are increasingly graphic and disturbing. Among the latest disclosures are images that reportedly show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor crouched over a woman lying on the floor, along with screengrabs of him suggesting he emailed Epstein about a 'beautiful' Russian woman and invited him to Buckingham Palace. Mountbatten Windsor’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson, is also referenced in the newly released material.
If you are being subjected to sexual abuse, or know of anyone who is, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673)
