‘The Crown’ Season 4 Episode 4: Did Queen know Prince Andrew's sexual pursuits would set up Jeffrey Epstein trap?
Flamboyant and fun-loving, Prince Andrew's introduction in ‘The Crown’ is quite something! In Season 4 Episode 4 ‘Favourites’, Queen Elizabeth II (Olivia Colman) is astounded when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) confesses how her son is her favorite among the twins. While she is sympathetic, the preference for her son over her daughter leads the monarch to question who her own favorite child is.
To come to a conclusion, she calls for a confidential lunch with each one of them. Played by Tom Byrne, Andrew arrives with a swagger in a chopper and throws off his helmet to one of the standing guards. “How did you get away with that?” the Queen asks him. Without flinching, Andrew exclaims, “I told them the truth. That I was summoned for a matter of national importance by the commander in chief of the Armed Forces.” Countering him, the Queen says, “It's a mother-and-son lunch. Hardly a matter of national importance.” But Andrew is not one to let go. “You're the Queen and I am second in line to the throne. We break wind, it's a matter of national importance,” he says. “Oh, Stop it!” she says and breaks into a smile.
Before letting her speak, he says, “There are one or two things I'd like to discuss with you. First is my title... The one you bestow upon me when I get married.” The Queen says, “I had no idea you were thinking of getting married.” Andrew remarks, “I'm not. Well not, seriously. This latest one is quite something.” And the Queen dubs her as “the young, racy American actress.”
In quite a shocking scene, Andrew then tells her about ‘The Awakening of Emily’ in which his lady love, Koo Stark, stars. He calls her character an “impressionable, nubile 17-year-old girl”. Astonished, the Queen replies, “Seventeen? I'm not sure I want to know more.”
Andrew narrates the story of how she returns home from a finishing school in Switzerland to her mother's country house in the English countryside. “There she meets several twisted and perverted older predators who seduce the vulnerable, helpless young Emily as we follow her induction into sensual pleasures,” he goes on to say. Disappointed, she sarcastically quips, “You're right. It doesn't sound blue at all... Are you sure it was even legal?” Unbothered, Andrew says, “Who cares?” That scene sets up the whole new scandal Prince Andrew has been led into.
Did the Queen foresee Prince Andrew's penchant for young women would land him into trouble? Did she know about his sexual pursuits towards minors? On the show, she confesses to Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies), “As for Andrew, if he doesn't change...” and breaks off mid-sentence, worried about her “favorite” child.
It's no secret that she was incredibly fond of Andrew, more than her other children. Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal commentator, said, “In 1960, when Andrew was born, the queen had been on the throne for eight years and didn’t have to leave the toddler to tour the Commonwealth for months. She was able to give him more attention and Andrew was someone with whom she’s had a particular affinity.”
A decorated war hero and a playboy prince once desired by many, Prince Andrew's stories have caused many scandals and much furor — especially his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — that cast a dark shadow over his life. The Duke of York later confessed how it was incredibly wrong on his part to form close associations with Epstein. “I stayed with him and that’s… that’s the bit that… I kick myself for on a daily basis,” Andrew said in an interview which was recorded at Buckingham Palace. “Because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side down, simple as that.”
His colorful past is illustrated in the nicknames splashed inside the pages of tabloids, right from “Randy Andy” to “Airmiles Andy.” Fitzwilliams said, “When you think of Prince Andrew, you think of three things... His loyal service in the Falklands, his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who was a catastrophe of a royal, and now of course also the Epstein link.”
On the show, after meeting with each one, she comes to the painful realization that she has failed as a mother. What legacy is she leaving the country with such heirs? Will the monarchy be able to survive without her steady hand? The one question ringing through heads is at that moment is: Did the Queen know about his inclination towards young women and didn't do anything to stop? Well, the Queen certainly did not stand by his behavior.
After Prince Andrew's connections with Epstein was made public, he was forced to step down from his royal duties. Royal expert Katie Nicholl shared her thoughts on that. “Reading between the lines, it is my understanding that Andrew understood he had to go... It must have been incredibly hard for the Queen, his mother — Andrew is widely regarded to be her favorite son — but she recognized that there was a huge amount of damage being done to the monarchy. He had no option, the Queen had no option but for Andrew to step back from royal duties.”
“The Queen put on an incredibly brave face last night after leaving that meeting with Prince Andrew and telling him effectively that he had to step down... For the Queen, the most important thing is the unity of the monarchy. The reason that she and Prince Charles knew that Andrew had no alternative but to step down was to preserve the integrity of the monarchy.”
Catch all 10 episodes of ‘The Crown’ Season 4 on Netflix.