Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Former Prince Andrew’s Trade Envoy Role and the Vetting Failure Now Under Scrutiny (5/22/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Epstein Chronicles. The UK government has released documents relating to
- 0:10Prince Andrew and his time as the Trade Envoy, and
- 0:14as you would expect, we're learning that Prince Andrew was
- 0:18never formally vetted for the role of UK Trade Envoy,
- 0:24and like everything else in his bitch ass life, it
- 0:27was handed to him. There is nothing I hate more
- 0:33than wasted privilege. This man had the whole world given
- 0:37to him, and what did he do squandered it? And why?
- 0:43Because he needed more? Imagine being the Queen's son and
- 0:47that not being adequate. You need more. I have to
- 0:49add more, always more and more and more and more,
- 0:52like a glutton of debauchery. And it was great for
- 0:55Prince Andrew for years until it wasn't. And now that
- 0:58the bill is due, this man wants nothing to do
- 1:00with it. But the problem for Andrew is there's no
- 1:04escaping especially now. His problems were bad enough when he
- 1:11was being looked at in the United States, but now
- 1:14not only in the United States but his own country.
- 1:19So you know, the jeopardy for Prince Andrew grows by
- 1:22the day, especially when we see these documents that are
- 1:25being released and we come to find out that Andrew
- 1:29was never even vetted. Now do you think that would
- 1:31have happened for anybody else or only for the Queen's
- 1:35darling boy. Today's article is from The Guardian and the
- 1:38headline no evidence of formal security vetting when Andrew became
- 1:42UK Trade Endvoy. Minister says this article was authored by
- 1:46Amanda Topping. Formal security vetting and due diligence appears not
- 1:54to have been carried out before the appointment of Andrew
- 1:57mount Batt and Windsor as Trade Endvoy the government. And
- 2:00it said as it emerged that the late Queen was
- 2:03very keen for her son to take up a prominent
- 2:05role in promoting Britain's interests. And that's always been the
- 2:08case when it comes to Andrew. Mommy's darling little boy
- 2:12could do no wrong. And even with all of the
- 2:15evidence that was put before the Queen, she wasn't willing
- 2:19to hold him accountable. And that's why the monarchy is
- 2:22in jeopardy. I know everybody loves the Queen, but she
- 2:26really fumbled the ball when it comes to Prince Andrew,
- 2:29and the damage of that decision is long lasting. It's
- 2:33not going away anytime soon, and as more information comes out,
- 2:37the more damning it's gonna be for the royal family.
- 2:42The first batch of documents relating to the appointment of
- 2:45the former Prince as Trade Envoy by Tony Blair in
- 2:48two thousand and one includes a memo dated February twenty fifth,
- 2:52two thousand and addressed to Robin Cook, then the Foreign Secretary,
- 2:56in which the then Chief Executive of British Trade International,
- 3:00David Wright, said, Queen Elizabeth the second wish had been
- 3:04for mount Baton Windsor then the Duke of York to
- 3:07take on the role. So because the Queen wanted it,
- 3:11it happened. But Andrew used that role allegedly to enrich
- 3:18himself and all the while he was on the taxpayer's dime.
- 3:24The government published historic documents concerning the appointment on Thursday
- 3:28in response to a parliamentary move by the Liberal Democrats,
- 3:32and said that it found no evidence that formal due
- 3:35diligence or security vetting was carried out at the time,
- 3:38despite the role given Mount Baton Windsor access to senior
- 3:42government and business contacts around the world. Just being the
- 3:46Queen's sons good enough. Huh. Well, that might be the
- 3:50case if the queen's son wasn't an absolute moron. But
- 3:56I bet they wish they vetted him now, don't they?
- 3:58And I bet somebody wish the would step in and
- 4:01told the Queen she's making a bad decision. We found
- 4:07no evidence that a formal due diligence or a vetting
- 4:10process was undertaken. There's also no evidence that this was considered.
- 4:15Chris Bryant, a Trade minister, said in a written statement
- 4:18to Parliament, this is bad. And look, I'm telling you
- 4:22right now that we're just at the very start of
- 4:25the disaster for Prince Andrew. This is gonna spiral because
- 4:29if you think that the allegations that have been made
- 4:32against Andrew when it comes to Epstein are the only ones,
- 4:36you're crazy. They might not all be about sex, but
- 4:40this dude was corrupt according to everything we've heard. He
- 4:44never met a scumbag, he didn't want to hang out with,
- 4:47and for all those years he was protected by the Queen.
- 4:50But that ship is held and the Queen obviously is
- 4:54no longer around, so that protection is now gone as well.
- 5:01Bryan said that it was understandable since the new appointment
- 5:04was a continuation of the royal family's involvement in trade
- 5:07and investment promotion work, and because mount Batton Windsor was
- 5:11replace in the Duke of Kent, who was stepping down
- 5:14from his role as Vice Chair of Overseas Trade Board,
- 5:18sounds like an excuse to me. Everybody should be vetted.
- 5:21It doesn't matter who you are. And this is why.
- 5:25What because you were born a Windsor, you're not capable
- 5:28of treason, You're not capable of evil. We know that's
- 5:32not the truth. So yeah, he should have been vetted,
- 5:37but unfortunately they decided they didn't have to do that.
- 5:40So with that decision they now have to live with
- 5:43the consequences and I think for the monarchy that's going
- 5:46to be disastrous. There's nobody showing up that's going to
- 5:50save the monarchy, certainly not Charles. I mean maybe William
- 5:55will be more liked, but do you really think he's
- 5:58going to have the effect the Queen did. I have
- 6:00a very hard time believe in all that. The government's response,
- 6:05which includes the publication of eleven documents that show how
- 6:08the role was created and Mount Batan Windsor was appointed,
- 6:12comes after the Liberal Democrats tabled to Humble Address and
- 6:15Parliament calling for publication of papers on his role, including
- 6:20any vetting and any correspondence from Peter Mandelsson, the disgraced
- 6:24former ambassador to the US. In the February two thousand
- 6:28memo to Cook, Wright suggested Mount Baton Windsor's role would
- 6:32include some regional trips and two or three oversea visits
- 6:36each year, as well as leading trade missions from time
- 6:39to time. He wrote, finally, we would want the Duke
- 6:42of York to be available to receive prominent trade visitors
- 6:46from overseas here in London and perhaps act as a
- 6:49host at mules or receptions as appropriate. So basically they
- 6:54just want Andrew there as a prop to say that
- 6:57the Queen's son is there. It's not like he was
- 7:00actually useful, not like he actually did anything. The senior
- 7:05officials said that they did not envisage that the Duke
- 7:08of York would want to be burdened with the regularity
- 7:11of meetings of the Board of British Trade International or
- 7:15the burden of paper which goes along with the board membership.
- 7:19God forbid, he has extra duties that would take away
- 7:22from his time of hanging out with Epstein. Can't have that, Kenny.
- 7:25We're talking about a guy who skipped his daughter's birthday
- 7:29to hang out with Epstein. The documents also showed that
- 7:33Mount Batton Windsor's aid told the government that he preferred
- 7:36to go to sophisticated countries and to see ballet rather
- 7:39than theater on overseas visits. He should not be offered
- 7:43private golfing functions abroad, said the aid, as this was
- 7:46a private activity and if the then Prince took his
- 7:49clubs with him, he would not play in any public sense.
- 7:53He probably stunk. Not that I should talk shit. I'm
- 7:57terrible at golf, I mean absolutely terrible. I find it
- 8:02boring and I find it monotonous. But if you're somebody
- 8:08like Prince Andrew, golf is something that you have to
- 8:11do right. How many deals have been made on the
- 8:14golf course A whole hell of a lot. Mount bat
- 8:17and Winsor served as the UK Special Representative for International
- 8:21Trade and Investment from two thousand and one to twenty eleven,
- 8:25an unpaid role in which he traveled the world, meeting
- 8:28senior business and government figures, yeah and enriching himself. Going
- 8:33down to New Mexico to hang out with Bill Richardson
- 8:36and Jeffrey Epstein down at Doro Ranch. Hell of a
- 8:39guy that Prince Andrew. And remember he went down there
- 8:42in his official trade capacity, so anything he was doing
- 8:45while in New Mexico he was doing as a representative
- 8:50of the British government, not just as the monarchy, but
- 8:53of the British people. And I have a funny feeling
- 8:57that people over in the UK are not going to
- 8:59take kindly to it. They have had their fill in
- 9:03the UK of people like Andrew. The second son of
- 9:09the late Queen, became the first royal family member to
- 9:12be arrested at modern times when he was held over
- 9:15claims of misconduct in public office. Emails appeared to show
- 9:19him sharing confidential information with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey
- 9:22Epstein while working as a trade representative. He is previously
- 9:27denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. This is just
- 9:31the beginning for Andrew, and his problems are only going
- 9:35to grow because once they open the door and they
- 9:38start taking a look around your room, inevitably they're going
- 9:42to find your other secrets. And a man like Prince Andrew,
- 9:46if he has anything. It's secrets now. The only caveat
- 9:51to that is just how far the English authorities are
- 9:54going to dig. Are they going to cut him some
- 9:56slack because he's Andrew or are they going to make
- 9:59any example of them to show the world and more importantly,
- 10:03the people of the UK that they mean business. At
- 10:07this point, I doubt that Andrew is going to do
- 10:10any kind of time in prison, and not because the
- 10:14evidence isn't there, but because who he is. And the
- 10:18same goes for Mandelssohn. But we'll have to see what
- 10:21the authorities come up with, and we have to see
- 10:24just how sickened the UK populace ends up being, because
- 10:28I think that's going to drive the conversation if the
- 10:32people are demanding accountability in the UK when it comes
- 10:35to Andrew and Mandelssohn. Maybe we'll get there. But if not,
- 10:39this investigation, like the investigation in America, will die on
- 10:43the vine. So we'll see what we see, and like usual,
- 10:48we'll keep our ear to the ground. All the information
- 10:52that goes with this episode can be found in the
- 10:55description box.