You might ask what has a future New Zealand republic got to do with one of the worst sexual predators in recent history, a man who influenced some of the most powerful people in the world. And you would be right to do so. And I am obligated to give as straight an answer as I can.
I am a republican. I have been a republican since my time at high school, where during Legal Studies I came to know the differences between republics, monarchies, democracies. I came to learn how short a period of time New Zealand has actually been a dominion. All of this and other important learnings that shaped my early views of the legal framework that New Zealand should have, came during the years 1998-1999, which now we are finding out was during the period when some of the worst of Jeffrey Epstein was happening.
In this article I tell you what I know about the ongoing scandal. And in the second part (next blog article), I raise the case for cutting ties with the Royal Family.
The Royal Family have obviously had a long association with New Zealand – aside from being Monarchy, whose head is our head of state, the late Queen was someone that the wartime generation grew up with, and came to hold in high regard. She was the head of state for 20+ countries when she passed away in September 2022. I met King Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles when they visited New Zealand in 2019.
Across the 186 years that we have had a Briton as our head of state, we watched the dramas – the scandals, the tragedies, the weddings, the tours – and at one time or another we symapthised with William and Harry as they grew up in their mothers shadow; we watched the gym-gate drama, Sarah Ferguson being in the tabloids, Andrew’s infidelity; the country celebrated William and Catherine being married; we watched the tours where Prince William and others came to New Zealand. The ladies went all gaga over him and Prince Harry.
But all in the last 30 years, there was something infinitely darker going on. Those prone to conspiracy theories might ask if Princess Diana’s death in August 1997 was a terrible accident, or something more sinister. There were rumbles of thunder in the background that were ignored – Sarah Ferguson’s tabloid antics might have seemed trashy then, but now when we look at what is coming out, it is time to ask how much she knew. And I think the answer is going to shock as much as Prince Andrew’s downfall is. The very breadth of it with both parents of Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice being involved is going raise some serious questions about how much their daughters were exposed to.
To be clear, I have no reason to suspect the Princesses were involved in anything. However, one of them had an 18th Birthday party which was a costume dress up, and saw disgraced film maker Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell turn up. This was in 2008, when contact with Mr Epstein had allegedly stopped. Given that the first is now thoroughly disgraced, the second is dead and the centre of the biggest potential cover up in decades, with the third doing jail time. It might be that the Princesses wind up having to testify about what they know.
But Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson might not be the only Royals in a spot of bother. King Charles III might be the highest reigning Royal, but he knows even if he can never say so, that some extremely improper actions have been committed. He has committed to letting the Police investigation into Andrew’s recent arrest take its course. Of course, he will be trying to keep his late mothers reputation and legacy as intact as possible.
But it gets worse. Much worse. The crisis facing the Royal Family has no recent precedent. The last time it faced something this grave was when Edward VIII abdicated to get married to an American divorcee. The last time anyone in the Royal Family was arrested was when Oliver Cromwell ordered the arrest of King Charles I. With regards to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, it seems that the Queen gave him UKP12m to settle the case with Virginia Giuffre, which to me raises questions about how much the late Queen knew and whether she was complicit in covering things up?
So, where does this leave New Zealand. Fortuitously so far, we appear to have come away unscathed in the files that have been released. However, it raises questions about the wider integrity of the family that our head of state descends from. Were King Charles to be found of having some kind of collusion, it would possibly cause him to become just the second King to have abdicated since the arrest of Charles I by Oliver Cromwell. It would cause potentially irreparable damage to the integrity and prestige of the Royal Family, that would be long lasting and possibly not recovered from in my lifetime. Although the family probably would eventually recover, it might not be before republicanism in Britain and the countries like N.Z., where the reigning sovereign is the head of state, experiences significant growth as a political movement.
And because this seems to be reaching into the highest rungs of the Royal Family, including the late Queen Elizabeth II, one would do well to ask when the dust has settled, whether or not New Zealand should sever ties with the Royal Family and become a Republic?
Find out more in the next article.
Leftist Kiwi Writes 