Transcription
On to the next thing. 500,000 when you can to me. Open doors. New Prince Andrew. Yeah, it's ideal. Yeah.
The Duke and Duchess were best friends, which made it so unlikely that he would not know anything about Fergie's plan or propensity to sell access to him. However, ineptly on this occasion, she carried it out. And however theatrically she protested on tape that he never ever ever takes a penny. How likely is it really that she could introduce some oddball businessman to him and he would not suspect her of collecting a rake off?
[Music] Hello, how are you? Welcome to my channel. My name is Dear Denise. We're going to keep going in "Entitled" today. That, of course, is the book about Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. And today, we're going to finish off in the chapter entitled "Special Representatives" and we're going to get into the chapter entitled "Trapped," which refers to Sarah Ferguson and the sting operation where she is asking for money in exchange for access to Prince Andrew. It's sorted, it's trashy, it's everything that you have come to expect from Sarah Ferguson.
I think something that we're also going to see crop up in her personality is the book has really highlighted so far this sort of like, uh, self-pity side of her, where she is often, if people ask her about what she's up to, she, up to this point, has acted very sort of hangdog-like. "I'm sorry, I know I'm a screw-up. I mess everything up." And, you know, she wrote a book with basically that same idea, that I've gone through life and I've made a lot of mistakes and I know that I have, you know. But we're starting to see a defiance in her, which I think really characterizes her most recent appearances. She is now becoming extremely volatile when questioned about what she's up to. She has this real sense of entitlement, like, "You don't get to ask me why I'm doing what I'm doing. There's nothing wrong with what I've done." And that's her whole tone and demeanor now. And it is pretty horrific.
"Did you take the money?" "At one stage, you had $4,000 cash sitting in front of you." "Did you take?" "Absolutely. Yes. And it was given to me and I got it in the car and then returned it straight away." "Once the scandal broke." "As soon as I knew it was a scandal, not once it broke, Michael." "But don't try and trick me now because I'm not going to play this game." "Delete that bit. John, can you delete it, please? That bit. 'Cause I don't want to go down this." "I'm asking very fair questions of you." "No, I just too tabloid."
I think we shouldn't be surprised that this is her tone and demeanor because this is also the way she treated staff when she first entered into the royal family. Like, "I'm Sarah Ferguson. I'm married to the Duke of York. I'm a Duchess, so you're going to need to do what I say." And she seems to think that she can talk to other people that way now. Um, you know, here's a clip of her like last year, and this is the demeanor I'm talking about. Look at the way she's behaving. She thinks that she's really above the fray in this little clip. Uh, but as she tells the entire audience to be quiet as she tries to show them a piece of art, it comes across very badly.
"Why? Because the incredible person Simon Deiri has done an amazing job tonight. But this is exceptional. And all I want to say is to everyone in this room, stop, stop, stop, stop." Did you see I removed the microphone? Because all of you are saying, "Oh, I want to go because where is the next party?" And this is who she's going to devolve into. This scoldy, bratty, out-of-touch. And it's all because she doesn't want to change. She's just going to keep on going, manipulating, doing what she needs to do. And then, if you notice, it's your fault.
Okay, let's jump into the readings. Today, we're still under the heading of "Special Representatives," and we're still talking about Andrew's extremely questionable relationships with, oh, who is it today? Oh, just the dictator Gaddafi. Yeah, they were best friends. Best friends. Um, I don't understand how he has gotten a pass this long. Gaddafi and Epstein. Okay.
The subtitle today is "TK Kituni." "Andrew's penchant for keeping the company of foreign billionaires whose business activities were not always transparent and who might use him as a trophy asset to impress others was of increasing concern." In November 2008, the Duke had taken a four-day holiday in Tunisia, paid for by TK Kituni, a convicted Libyan gun smuggler, whom Andrew had first met in 2005. The party, which included several women, bodyguards, and assistants, went on to visit Colonel Gaddafi in Libya. Patuni was seen paying bills for the group at two hotels. Challenged by the trip, the Duke's spokesman said he would be reimbursing Katuni for the private element of the visit. None of it makes it any better. It was the second time Andrew had flown to North Africa to meet Kuni and Gaddafi within the previous three months and the third visit to Gaddafi in seven months. He also had made a habit of staying with Kuni in his private house near Tunis. So, I mean, these people are friends. This isn't work-related. In fact, the book says that none of the visits had been arranged by UK Trade and Investment. Though the Duke was always accompanied by protection officers paid for by the taxpayer, rumors circulated that he had been involved in negotiations for the release of the bomber Abdulbaset al-Mraiq. Through Ghadaf's son, Andrew had also become friendly with the 35-year-old second son of the dictator, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who acted as his father's fixer, and whom Andrew was to meet three times between August 2008 and March 2009. In that month, Andrew returned to Libya, a country with huge gas and oil fields, on a week's private visit, traveling with only his bodyguard, ostensibly as a tourist, looking at archaeological treasures, not a subject in which he'd previously shown great interest.
"If Andrew happens to get on with people on his official visits, it's only natural that he'll go back and see them on his own expense," claimed a friend. "This does not mean he's feathering his own nest. He's not abusing his position as a special representative of the government. Whatever people may think, there are no side deals." Look, I don't care if there are any side deals, man. You should not be friends with a dictator. You know what I'm saying? So, you go on an official tour, which, question marks if that's ever happened. You go on these official tours, claims your friend, and then you're like, "You know who I just thought was the best? Gaddafi. You know who I just feel like going to visit again three times in seven months? Gaddafi. I just can't get enough of these gunslingers, you know? I mean, there's just nobody who makes me feel more cozy and at home than these Libyan gun smugglers."
This next section is entitled "Ilham Aliyev." In June 2009, it was revealed that Andrew had spent £60,000 of public money to charter a 15-seater private jet for a three-day visit to Azerbaijan to attend the Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition, his sixth visit in five years, accompanied by a bodyguard and two officials. A business class ticket direct from London into Baku would have been £1,300. Well, let's not spend £1,000 when we could spend £60,000. This came amid continued concerns that Andrew was becoming too close to Azerbaijan's authoritarian and corrupt president, Ilham Aliyev. A source said the president and Andrew were close friends with common interests and a shared sense of humor, even that the Duke was always laughing at Ilham's jokes, which are usually about women. Real shocker there. Through Aliyev, Andrew had met one of the country's leading oligarchs, Yanar Aliyev, who ran Azerbaijan Airlines. There were rumors that Aliyev was trying to gain a foothold in Britain and that Andrew had been advising him. Though BP was the largest foreign investor in Azerbaijan's oil industry and Andrew had had a series of meetings to promote British trade, one of the country's leading independent journalists, Khadija Ismayilova, spoke for many when she said, "We just do not understand exactly what it is Andrew does or why he needs to come here so often." It is difficult to establish the complete story of Andrew's activities in the Central Asian Republic as people are scared to talk because of his connections to its powerful elite. But Andrew had been coming to Azerbaijan long before he was appointed special representative. His two most active periods in the country were between 1994 and 1996 on leaves from the Royal Navy and then beginning in 2008 until 2014. During the first period, he worked closely with Mark Thatcher, son of the former prime minister, and the two were often seen together at a Portuguese restaurant in Baku that was primarily patronized by expatriates and known to have the most extensive wine cellar in the city. The Duke also often attended quasi-official networking events in the Azerbaijan capital, such as the monthly British Embassy drinks reception hosted for members of the British Business Group at the Hyatt Regency, which also housed the embassy. Both men leased apartments in Baku, fully refurbished under contracts awarded to the local branch of the Scottish firm Morrison Construction, and at the time were involved in two projects. These are some real cover projects if you ask me. The book says that the first project was an attempt to purchase cheap aviation fuel from the Azerbaijan Airlines company for a Houston firm, Amerar. The second involved supplying paper to print the new Azerbaijan passport through a subsidiary of printer Delaroo. When the consignment arrived in Baku, the grade and quality was wrong and the paper had to be scrapped. What are these side deals? Later, Andrew played a prominent role in a 2011 deal by the Baku Taxi Company to introduce a thousand London-style taxis as part of a £16 million pound agreement with Manganese Bronze, a subsidiary of the London Taxi Company.
Andrew's lavish travel expenditure continued, even though the purpose of many of his trips was not always clear. On the evening of November 14th, 2009, he arrived at Ryiata International Airport on a visit later not included in a list produced by the government of the Duke's overseas trade envoy trips undertaken in agreement with and in support of government objectives. See, this is my problem. The constant editing of his schedule would suggest that all along people knew what he was up to. Maybe not the extent of what he was up to, but they knew it was not the right flavor. You know, people don't need to see that he's been up to this, but see, majorly problematic. If you look at a schedule and you're like, "Can't let anyone know about this." Maybe curb the man at what? Why was he given constant access to the funds in order for him to run around the world being an idiot? Cut the man off at the knees. He can't do what he's doing if he doesn't have the money to do it. Why did they just give in and give in and give in? Whether they want to publicly agree with what he was up to or not, or the suggestions of what he was up to. You obviously did agree with it because you always gave him money. How dumb do you think the public are? How dumb are you? Like, if you guys can't figure out what Andrew is up to, if you are truly blown away time and time again, like, what are you talking about? Andrew wouldn't do that. Wait a minute. You should all be stripped of the roles that you're playing over here at the palace. If time and again this bumbling fool is able to pull the wool over your eyes, right? All right. So, either you're an idiot and he's the smartest person in the room, or he's an idiot and you're covering for him. Either way, I feel very uncomfortable with the scenario.
Okay, the book goes on to say that it subsequently emerged that an earlier visit to Saudi Arabia in September had been paid for by his friend from Gordonstoun, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, through his energy company Masdar. Al Nahyan owned 20% of the planned three billion London Array wind farm in the Thames estuary, which would earn the royal family a fortune as the Crown Estate was paid rental for the undersea cables taking power from the wind farms to the mainland. Andrew attended the celebration dinner in a London restaurant when Masdar won the contract. It's estimated that offshore wind farms could net the royals up to £37.5 million a year on top of earnings from the rest of the estate's £6 billion property portfolio. Well, maybe I've been saying that the royals are poorer than they really are. That doesn't sound like chump change to me.
Okay, let's talk about what Sarah's up to. The title of this section is "The Duchess on the Estate." On August 18th, 2009, Sarah fronted a sequel to "The Duchess and Hull," "The Duchess on the Estate," for which she was paid £20,000 by ITV. It followed her as she spent 10 days on a crime-ridden housing estate in Manchester.
"Where did the bullets go in?" "One there and the other window on the other side." "We've got a crazy lunatic go out there with a gun with a vendetta against the building." The program was panned by both critics and residents, who accused her of patronizing them. She had suggested antisocial behavior could be curbed by planting tulips in a cup of tea and of using other people's misery to slake her thirst for publicity. Truly Megan's mentor. It is so dim to say that all we have to do is plant flowers and hand out cups of tea and then we'll all be acting civilized. I mean, common decency and beauty are helpful in life, but I don't think that's going to solve the fact that your mother's a drug addict and your dad abandoned you in the crib.
In the course of the show, she played pool and drank cider with the locals. At one point, telling the camera, "You've got to live the life." She later added, "I can sleep anywhere. A park bench, a bedsit, a B&B," before disclosing that during the filming she had stayed at the All Seasons Guest House, a Victorian house set in lovely gardens. So, what is she like, trying to brag that even though she's over here in the slums, you know, it doesn't bother her, she could sleep on a park bench, but I mean, she's not. Boy, this is a show we need to review.
After a barrage of criticism from BBC Radio 5 listeners, one of the complaints leveled against her was that she had spent £300,000 of taxpayers' money doing up one of her daughter's apartments at St. James's Palace. She claimed she wanted to go live in a hole and would never make another documentary in the UK. Everyone is so mean for noticing what a bogus fool she is and how she just spends everybody's money all the time. You know, it's so hard to be so rich and famous.
Sarah responded by going with Andrew to a £38 million pound estate set in 350 acres near Sotogrande, which, according to local rumor, had been lent rent-free for a month in exchange for helping to find a buyer among her rich friends. It was their first holiday together without their daughters, who were at Richard Branson's home on Necker Island in the Caribbean, but it did not reflect them getting back together romantically, even if immediately after the divorce, Andrew had carried a torch for her.
"I think that if his father had not been so set against it, he would have remarried her at one stage," said a source. They also claimed Andrew was enjoying life too much to be tied down, but that he felt extraordinarily attached to Sarah. She makes him feel guilty for the breakup of the marriage. She says that it's his fault that she strayed when they were married, that it was because he neglected her. And he feels terribly guilty because there is a bit of truth in it. Maybe that's your hold over him and why he's always there to pick her up when she falls. Sarah, your choices are your choices. If you didn't like being married to him because you felt like he wasn't there for you, then leave. If you feel like the whole marriage was a sham and then he never intended to actually marry you and be your husband, get an annulment, you know. But what is this business? "I had to hit you. You made me hit you." Like, that's that's the kind of logic we're we're existing under here. That that's the talk of an abuser and a manipulator. And since Andrew is, you know, kind of soft in the head, it's yet another Harry and Meghan scenario. If Harry were to leave Meghan now, she would say to him that he was just another one of the people who had disappointed her, that she had lived her whole life being betrayed by people who said they'd be there for her. And now, you know, even her own father, look at the way he's treated her in the press. Nobody's been there for her. And here she thought that she was going to be able to find her one and only, her ride or die. And now look how Harry's done. And Harry's so afraid of ever putting a foot wrong with her that he can be miserable. But he's just decided the rest of his life is going to be a misery. And he just has to accept that because he's an Andrew at heart. And Sarah is a Meghan.
The Duchess continued to write and endorse everything from jewelry and linen to fragrances, cutlery, and perfumed candles. One plan was to sell copies of items from her family estate in Pyle Court on television. Having been in discussions with bosses at the shopping channel QVC. How the mighty have fallen, hawking your family goods on QVC. Lord of mercy. In September 2009, she announced she had signed a deal with Handmade Films, started by former Beatle George Harrison, to realize big-screen versions of five of her "Little Red" series of children's books. It was also revealed she was in talks with Tommy Hilfiger to promote some of his clothes, and that St. Martin's Press would be publishing her first novel, and that she wanted to write a book about a forgetful elephant. A forgetful elephant. These some real big ideas come out of the head of Sarah Ferguson.
Okay, let's move on to "The Yorks at 50." Both of them have birthdays. Let's see how this goes. Sarah Ferguson's 50th birthday in October 2009. She celebrated with a dinner at the Lanesborough Hotel for a dozen guests. Included new best friends, Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley, Prince Andrew, and her two daughters. And it was a time for personal reflection, but also public projection. To mark the occasion, she spoke to Hello, for which she was paid £50,000, admitting she was in debt by £600,000 after the end in 2008 of her Weight Watchers contract, which had eventually been worth about £2 million a year, and the collapse of her US-based lifestyle business, Hartmore.
I, I, I just want you guys to imagine every time she opens her mouth, every time she gives a speech, every time she does any kind of work for any company, they never pay her less than $50,000. She's got these things coming in hard and fast, constantly. How is it she's able to spend the money at the rate that she's spending? Even her holidays are always paid for by friends. I mean, just on the last page, her stay at that £38 million pound estate, free. They just let her stay there. With all the freebies coming her way and all the deals she has going, how is she even able to spend this kind of money? How could you even be in debt? £600,000? How is it possible?
The Duchess was advised to file for bankruptcy, but instead took out a personal loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland to repay creditors some £750,000. Extricating herself cost her £1 million in legal fees. So, how have we solved the problem? The Sarah Ferguson Foundation, described as a philanthropic arm of Hartmore, had been launched at a lavish fundraising dinner in 2007 with tables costing $25,000. The charity had been incorporated in Delaware, known as a tax shelter, and it was disclosed had paid only $737.38 in taxes. The last tax returns to be filed showed that the foundation had income of $58,620, but had given grants of just $22,000, including $10,000 to Pride and Purpose, the charitable arm of Shamwari, a private South African game reserve owned by Sir Richard Branson, and where the Duchess and her daughters had holidayed. Her spokeswoman said the grants of more than $400,000 had later been made, including to a children's home in Kenya. After the charity failed to pay its taxes, its status was downgraded to "ceased good standing."
Andrew's 50th birthday, which he spent skiing with his ex-wife and daughters in Verbier, was marked by his promotion to Rear Admiral and several profiles. Asked in one interview about his plans to celebrate, he replied, "Nothing big." The celebrations turned out to be an official reception at Buckingham Palace for 200 guests involved with his charities and regiments, and performances by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and English National Ballet. It was followed the next night by a party at St. James's Palace organized by his daughters. A home video of his life was played, and he was presented with two large leather-bound and hand-engraved photo albums and a silver ornament of Bendix, his Jack Russell, who had recently been put down. Andrew paid tribute in his speech to his three children, one being Sarah. Celebrations continued at the nightclub Annabel's, and guests were given miniature photo albums with pictures of Andrew to take home.
But this is where things get just low class, as they typically do with Sarah and Andrew. Sarah gave him a miniature portrait of their daughters in pastel, for which the artist Basia Hamilton had charged her £7,000, placed in a double-fronted silver traveling case so that Andrew could take it with him when he was going abroad. In spite of gentle reminders from the artist for more than a year and threats of legal action from the luxury gift firm TJK London, and a bill for both picture and £4,000 case, which had Sarah's crest and the initial 'S' engraved on the front, had not been paid by the time the story hit the press. This was not the first time the Duchess had been sued for failure to settle her bills. In April 2009, a law firm lodged a claim for an unpaid bill of £1,750 at Northampton County Court. Two months later, a small firm of accountants in Harpenden, MJ Brooks, put in a claim for £18,132 at the Central London County Court, and the Duchess finally settled an outstanding £2,117 bill for Prince from Shades, a family-run photographic business in Woking, after it had gone to Guildford County Court the previous September. In September 2009, it was reported she owed several thousand pounds to a Malibu-based spirit guide known as Anamika, who lived on a 10-acre estate called the Sakara Temple of Awakening. The following month, it was claimed she owed £17,000 to Richard Owen for two months' work in February and March to help build her brand, Fergie. Eventually, all the bills were settled. In April 2010, it emerged that the Duchess had been sued by Mayfair solicitors Davenport Lyons for £200,000 for work they had done on a deal to turn her children's books into an animated television series and to create and protect a trademark under which she planned to market a range of lifestyle goods on QVC. Reminders and requests to discuss a credible payment plan for the eight unpaid invoices from April to July 2009 had been ignored. In October 2009, the Duchess had agreed to pay £30,000 with a further £50,000 to come, but no payment materialized.
It was, however, a sting operation filmed by the News of the World that was to bring about one of the biggest crises of her life. And that brings us to "Trapped." This is the chapter where we're going to discuss her steady decline. You know, she's really been working on a huge reputation rebuild after the divorce. She was pretty inoffensive to most Americans. I mean, she was everywhere. She's always trying to attach her name to every little thing. But, you know, in a country where capitalism is the way that we drive our economy and where most people are trying to figure out like, okay, you know, what's my side hustle? Nobody really disliked her for her side hustle. Nobody really found it super offensive, especially because we don't have a monarchy ourselves. So, we really weren't in tune with how off it was that she was using her name. In America, celebrity is often associated with brand deals, you know. So, it didn't really hit a nerve with us that this person was using her name and her status to brand certain things because to us, fame and being well-known is often associated with that kind of behavior. In England, correct me if I'm wrong, all you British viewers, but it's very offensive that she would use her name to constantly hawk certain products, like "Duchess of this, Duchess of that," and constantly use her name to sell goods and services, teaspoons, dish towels, cutlery, plates. I mean, it was just kind of an embarrassment that she would keep on like that. So, I think maybe people had a different impression of her in the UK, but in America, where she spent a lot of her time, most of us did not find her very offensive. This whole sting operation is going to shed new light. Okay, she's got big problems on her hands now.
The book goes on to say that had not been the first attempt to entrap the Duchess. Rumors had long been circulating in Fleet Street about her introduction services. The News of the World had only begun investigating the Duchess after learning about Sarah cashing in on knowing Andrew by setting up deals with foreign businessmen. It said it claimed to have details of two tycoons she boasted that she introduced to Prince Andrew. The paper said the Duchess had tried to lure a businessman into a scheme to make money from Andrew's unpaid role as a government UK special representative for international trade and investment. She told him she could fix up meetings between him and Prince Andrew in Kazakhstan and Abu Dhabi, said the paper's source. "As long as Sarah thinks you're rich, she will be all over you like a rash."
The newspaper set up a sting. On May 13th, Sarah, accompanied by two assistants, met the businessman/reporter at New York's Mark Hotel, where she explained about Andrew's role. "You see, if I can get Billy," the code name she used for the Duke, "to introduce quite good things to [redacted], then [redacted] gives me a look at the spoon, and that saves my bacon."
"On to the next thing. 500,000 when you can to me. Open doors. New Prince Andrew. Yeah. Is that ideal? Yeah." She suggested a meeting with Andrew at Royal Lodge before inviting the businessman to join her, her daughter Beatrice, and Nelson John at her table at the Butterfly Ball in Battersea, suggesting he bring some friends. "It's Thursday night and we need. Well, our tables like we're eight seats short. We need some sort of fat cats around."
The next meeting with the reporter/businessman took place at Oswald's Club in Belgravia on May 18th, where after her aides had left, over a £95 bottle of Burgundy, she got down to business. "I never talk money ever, but since we've got business hats on, I'm going to demanding £500,000 be wired to her HSBC bank account," she told the reporter. "That opens up everything you could ever wish for. I can open any door you want, and I will for you. Look after me and he'll look after you. You'll get it back tenfold." This is damaging. I mean, we all remember this. I, we remember, we remember this, but it's just rereading it is just in print, not just hearing it, is just so sick and gross that she'd be making these backdoor deals for £500,000. The thing is is that she could easily get £500,000 with a little work here and a little work there. She just spends it and burns it up. I'm convinced she had a bonfire out back. With every check she was cut, she went and burned it up. I mean, it doesn't make sense how she has no money. $500,000 is a lot of money, but the thing is, she was being offered a lot of money for this, that, and the other. She doesn't have to make these backdoor deals. She just needs somebody to help her spend her money more wisely.
She told the businessman how through his role as special representative, Andrew meets the most amazing people, and he just throws them my way. Specifying Kazakhstan and Abu Dhabi, the reason, she explained, was she had received nothing in the divorce settlement. Here come the waterworks. The, "Oh, poor me. Pity me. I'm just a victim here." She said, "I have the biggest heart and the biggest of everything, but I have zero money. I have nothing at the moment. My children pay for me. They have a trust fund from Andrew, and they pay for me. I've changed millions of children's lives, but the royals still leave me with nothing. Nothing. I've changed all these children's lives. I can't name even a single one whose life I've changed. I've promised a lot and pledged many, many hundreds of thousands of dollars and never sent the checks. But in my mind, I've helped so many. Let me remind you, I have the biggest heart and the biggest of everything, including the biggest lying mouth you've ever seen."
She then went with the businessman to his purported flat in Mayfair to collect the money, boasting, "I'm a complete aristocrat. Love that, don't you? I love it. It's tremendously fabulous. But I've never admitted that to anyone." By the way, what? That you're an aristocrat? Am I supposed to think that you're a street urchin? I know who you are. What are you talking about? She left the flat with a $40,000 down payment in a computer bag to pay her quote celebrity assistant, Johnny O'Sullivan, who had worked for her for the past 14 years, ostensibly for his college tuition, room, and board. She also insisted on a 1% commission on any deals struck through her royal connections to go to a charity set up to build schools in Asia. Shortly afterwards, she and Beatrice flew to the Cannes Film Festival for various events. While dancing to "I Got a Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas at Naomi Campbell's 40th birthday party on May 22nd, she received a call from her publicist announcing that the next day's News of the World front-page story was "Fergie Sells Andy for £500,000." The story ran over four pages and was accompanied by a video of her meeting the undercover reporter, known as the "fake sheikh," with the Duchess filmed smoking and drinking and shaking on the deal, saying, "And, and as said, listen, if he's going to be kind enough to want to play, then we'll play. Let's pray. And he says, 'Let's play.' We'll play. But as long as it's nothing to do with him. No, I want to do that. I understood it completely. Understood exactly where you're coming from. Yeah. Because if it's anything near him, I didn't want to get anybody in trouble. But you will be his friend, right? I will listen to the friendship talk between you two. Right. And I do it. Okay. You two talk. I listen. Okay. Then I activate. He's the most amazing people. And he just throws them my way. It throws them your way. Fantastic. Well, then you throw them my way. Yes. But we, we have I've never said that. No, I understood it. Yes. And that is the key to him. Sure. Because as long as if anybody ever, ever, he never, ever, ever, he never does except a penny for him. No, he does not. He does not and will not. And he is completely whiter than white."
That refers only to his pasty skin. Uh, what are you talking about? Andrew would take half a penny if it was offered to him under any circumstance, dubious or on the up and up. The Duke of York categorically denied having any knowledge of the meeting, although the Duchess had claimed she'd already told him in advance about it, and it was he who had suggested the figure that she should demand. Buckingham Palace refused to comment, but the Duchess immediately issued a statement. "I mean, we've got to apologize. I very deeply regret the situation and the embarrassment caused. It is true that my financial situation's under stress. However, that is no excuse for a serious lapse in judgment, and I'm very sorry that this has happened. I can confirm that the Duke of York was not aware or involved in any of the discussions that occurred. I am sincerely sorry for my actions."
The following year, though, in her autobiography, "Finding Sarah," she had changed her tune, writing, "Under no circumstance did I offer to broker an introduction to my former husband, as it has been claimed. The British press and international media spun the truth into a web of lies. The tape was purposely cut to look like I was brokering a personal introduction, which, as I said, I did not. The tape was purposely cut to look like I was brokering a personal introduction." That is some editing skills, my friends. Where were the cuts? How was the conversation so smooth that they were editing it like mad to make it look like you were offering money for an introduction to Andrew? I mean, I, I would love to meet the editor that managed that.
Buckingham Palace had also now put out a statement. "The Duke of York categorically denies any knowledge of any meeting or conversation between the Duchess of York and the News of the World journalist. Since 2001, he has carried out his role of special representative with complete and absolute propriety and integrity." Please don't ask us about Gaddafi, though. Apart from the fact that Sarah had told Muhammad that it was Andrew who had suggested she ask for £500,000, it's difficult to believe her ex-husband was not aware of what she was doing, not least because she boasted to the reporter that she called Andrew five times a day. It's a point that journalist Tina Brown made. She highlighted the fact that the Duke and Duchess were best friends, which made it so unlikely that he would not know anything about Fergie's plan or propensity to sell access to him. However, ineptly on this occasion, she carried it out, and however theatrically she protested on tape that he never ever ever takes a penny. How likely is it really that she could introduce some oddball businessman to him and he would not suspect her of collecting a rake off?
The intermediary who had set up the meeting between Sarah and the News of the World was Azra Scaglioni, a clairvoyant and spiritual adviser to the Duchess since 1998, who was also consulted by the Duke. Andrew subsequently claimed he had never met or heard of her, with a Buckingham Palace spokesman saying, "The position of the Duke of York is categorically clear. They love that word, 'categorically.' If 'categorically' comes off their lips, it's a lie. He has not met Azra Scaglioni and she is not a friend of his. The Duke of York takes very seriously any suggestion that he has lied in this matter." The paper later unearthed a note from Andrew thanking Scaglioni for her help and friendship. And it was revealed she had organized Beatrice's 14th birthday party. Don't know this spiritual advisor, do you? She's only over there arranging your daughter's 14th birthday, which of course he didn't make a tremendous effort to attend those. But it would seem that if you've written somebody thanking them for their help and friendship, it's a little hard to swallow that the palace would like us all to know that you categorically have never had a relationship with them. Never ever. Not in all your born days.
You guys, I have to say that Andrew looks terrible, Sarah looks terrible, and the palace perhaps looks worst of all in this book. You can't help what certain individuals are going to do with their personal time. These are adults making terrible decisions, but at any point, at any time, they could have said, "But we're not funding it." The, you know, the heavy hand of justice had to finally come down on Prince Andrew and strip him of all sorts of things, which thank God they finally did, but it took them so long to do it. That's where we're going to end today. We've been clipping along at a steady pace in this book and have about this much left to read together. So, I'd say we probably have about a couple more weeks left on this book at the pace we're going. And I'm sorry to see the book even coming this close to an end because I've thoroughly enjoyed it. But we do have to move on for the day. Uh, for you, uh, please sound off in the comments. Thus far, what are you the most shocked about? Disappointed about? Which story did you not know? Which story are you hoping to hear more about? Of all the things that I knew about these two, I knew they were a joke. I didn't realize how evil they they are. There's an evilness here that I had not anticipated. I expected to hear the goings-on of a couple of clowns, you know. Um, and it's definitely clown-like behavior, but like scary clowns. You know what I'm saying?
Okay, well, I will see you guys tomorrow for the Friday news roundup. I cannot wait. I can't wait to talk about Meghan and Paris. I, I can't wait. I am dying to talk about it. I'm dying to talk about her and like trying to can, and she can't hold the can thing, right? I'm dying to talk about her laughing when she saw somebody fall on the runway. I'm dying to talk about her general evilness. Like, she does not look like a nice person this entire trip. Where's the joy, I guess, is what I'm saying. I can't wait for tomorrow. Just so many things that I cannot wait to talk to you guys about. Lots happening this week. Many people sounding off on all sorts of things. We've got lots of opinions to discuss. It's going to be delicious tomorrow. Cannot wait. So, I'll see you there. It might be a longish episode 'cause I just want to like talk about all the things. So, meet me tomorrow for our Friday news roundup. Of course, next week we'll keep on with the book. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. I'll see you soon. Bye.