Once again I remain equal parts impressed and embarrassed that the freaking BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY is doing a better job cleaning house than we are.

@mattblaze The British royal family is still around, because it manages to balance _existing_ to an extent just sufficient enough to keep having power and money, while _not-existing_ just enough that nobody gets out their pitchforks. Having their members named in the Epstein files is a threat to their continuance, because it makes them _exist_ in the British consciousness.

@mattblaze they're not.. doing... amazing. it's been a lot of coverup and misdirection, and keeping victims hushed up for a long time. I think the main kudos go to the British media staying on it and forcing their hand.

@quinn It's not a high bar, and yet we've still managed to limbo under it.

@mattblaze solid point.

@mattblaze From the UK reporting not for any of the sexual allegations sadly, Misconduct in Public Office prosecutions could be a hoot though

@mattblaze

they are playing the long game.. a 1000+ year old monarchy thinks in longer terms than cynical politicians who sit out 4 year terms in office. Charles doesn't have to worry about getting voted out of his office.

@mattblaze

Cleaning house for William's future reign..

Grandma inherited an institution that was in pretty good shape. Charles and Andrew ran it into the ground with their scandalous personal lives. Sadly, the good one, quiet Prince Edward, hardly gets a mention- positive or negative, in the press. Andrew may have been Elizabeth II's "favorite" but Edward has been the "solid" one. Quietly classy unlike his brothers and sister.

@mattblaze@federate.social

Too little, too late; as usual.
They do bugger all unless cornered, then the minimum possible.

Probably the main driver here is that Wils detests his uncle more than his brother.
I think the only reason Charles is hanging on is trying to ensure the monarchy doesn't end; thus the early spring cleaning.

Nothing to do with them anyway and once more of the Commonwealth ditch the Brit Monarchy...

That Chaz is doing this indicates way worse is to come.

@mattblaze I think your constitutional model is due for an update.

@mattblaze The growing anti-monarchist sentiment in this country will likely be a factor here. The stark generational divide in the data is likely to be of grave concern to the King. Support for the monarchy is concentrated among older people (55+), while in the 18 - 34 bracket, polls consistently show a robust majority would prefer a republic.

So the royalists are, in the most literal sense, dying.

@mattblaze @ApostateEnglishman
The voter margin that won the #Brexit referendum is also long dead by now.

@mattblaze

They really don't have much of a choice. Republicanism is never that far away in the UK.

Strangely enough there is no legal mechanism available to prosecute a monarch though ‍️

@FelisCatusDomesticus @mattblaze
All he has to worry about is loosing his tax exempt status. Loosing funding for security and Royal status they could survive.

@quinn @mattblaze
In the past the media would have helped cover it up. Scandal sells, so $$$cha-ching$$$

@mattblaze @mrundkvist Yep, toxic nostalgia for the days of Empire, when our prosperity (unevenly distributed though it was!) derived from pillaging our colonies rather than international trade, cooperation and diplomacy.

Elite domination of our media and entertainment industries also meant that older people were pining for halcyon days that never existed for the vast majority of ordinary people.

@mattblaze I wait to see this happening in usa