Prince Andrew’s prominent role at father Prince Philip’s memorial on Tuesday has been labelled a ‘PR blunder’ by the Associate Editor at The Independent, Sean O’Grady.
In his commentary on Andrew’s pivotal role at the service, as Queen Elizabeth’s escort, O’Grady slammed it as ‘a ghastly PR blunder’.
O’Grady believes there could be three reasons why the Duke of York featured prominently at the service.
“First was the notion that he lives round there so it was easiest for him to go with his mother… Second, and not incompatible with the first, the Queen remains extremely fond of Andrew,” he wrote.
O’Grady went on to quip: “Third, and again not incompatible… the old sod deliberately barged past the assorted posh persons at the Abbey and virtually kidnapped his mum and deposited her on her gilded perch.”
He further wrote, “Whichever is true, and, as I say, there may well be truth in all of them, it’s another PR blunder, and a particularly ghastly one.”
“The Queen can choose who she wishes to be at her side at such an emotional moment. All very true, and all very human. But the “optics”, as media folk call them, are just dreadful,” O’Grady commented.
He also pointed out that the British monarchy has continued to struggle with getting the ‘public/private balance’ right, “however, there are better and worse ways of dealing with every potential PR disaster and plainly, whoever – individually or collectively – is responsible for this arm of the monarchy isn’t doing it very well.”