clearly not the case now. no matter which way you cut this up this must�*ve been a devastating day for prince andrew and also for his mother at the queen. we know from many, many people over the years saying that they have a particularly close bond, the queen and prince andrew. it must�*ve been very, very tough for her to have to do this. i think there will be a sense of relief that in some ways perhaps this does protect the royal family from what is to come. and we know what is to come is going to be nasty. whether it's the settlement, which is a potential outcome between prince andrew and his accuser or whether it's the full blown day in court or more likely weeks and weeks in court which will be very nasty. digby, i suppose this is really a humiliation for andrew. the papers are all talking about him as the queens favourites on. we never