This is not a defence of sin - it’s a lament for how our culture has traded mercy for spectacle. It asks: can a man be both flawed and honourable? And can we hold both truths at once?
And here is where the teddy bears come in......
When I was a little girl, I had my teddy bear and he was a staunch friend in times of trouble. My childhood chums saw me through many difficulties. So it was with some confusion that I read that Andrew has 72 teddy bears and they are still all meaningful members of his adult life. Some are dressed in sailor suits and that seems rather poignant to me and it got me thinking.
Act I: “The Man and the Myth”
My childhood toys were and are precious to me. My dolly and my teddy bear and, despite now being a grown supposedly mature woman of 70 years, I still love a certain stuffed frog who has been with me for some decades. I love and loved my feline friend who sadly left me a years ago and I have found myself gravitating back to the comfort of Mr Frog.
We adults sometimes pretend that we are " grown up" We think that we have matured and are now all flash and fancy but we are all still " young at heart." We’re all just grown-ups with slightly larger security blankets. Just as my childhood toys anchored me in times of uncertainty, Andrew’s bears have been his silent companions through moments that would haunt most men for life.
When I learned that Andrew had been stripped of his military honours, shunned by the press, the public and the kingdom that he calls home, I just had to wonder.
What on earth has made a nation turn against a man who gave so much? Some dubious mates and "Randy Andy" romps don't negate war scars or innate decency.
The purpose of this post is not to make a judgement on the people involved. I feel that there has been enough of that already.
OK OK, I am probably going to be howled down here for writing this and it will only be with the passage of time that I will know whether or not I was right.
I have read and re-read a novel by Evelyn Waugh " Brideshead Revisited " which was about a young man named Sebastion who seemed to be trapped in a perpetual desire to keep his childhood alive.
His little Teddy Bear named Aloysius is Sebastion's constant companion. The teddy bear symbolises Sebastian’s youth and his reluctance to grow up. Sebastian is 19 at the time, and although he is too old for childish toys like teddy bears, he is afraid of responsibility and does not want to progress into adulthood. His attachment to the teddy bear thus represents his rejection of adult life and his desire to escape from it.
Act II: “The Hero Beneath the Headlines”
At 19, Andrew entered Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), Dartmouth, in 1979 to train as a naval officer, following in his father’s footsteps.
Andrew completed the course at BRNC in 1980.
He then underwent pilot training in both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters and received his pilot’s wings in 1981.
The following year, as a Royal Navy sublieutenant assigned to HMS Invincible, he flew helicopter missions in the Falkland Islands War.
The Falklands War is, in my opinion, one of the most forgotten wars in modern history..... at age 22, Andrew was hailed as a hero who saved lives when he and his crew plucked survivors from the icy South Atlantic waters after the sinking of a British warship blowing up and then rescuing some of the crewmen. 'It was something I shall never, ever forget. It was quite horrific.' .
Andrew said he flew three to four hours a day piloting his Royal Navy Sea King helicopter behind the HMS Invincible to serve as a decoy to Exocet missiles -- Argentina's deadliest weapon in the Falklands war.
He said his " 'most frightening moment of the war' was seeing 'a 4.5 shell come quite close to us. I saw my ship. Invincible, firing her missiles. Normally I would say it was spectacular, but at the time it was very frightening.' "
Andrew's helicopter Squadron 820 rescued 26 shipmates from the Atlantic Conveyor. 'They were suffering from hypothermia,' said Michael Retford, a rescued seaman, referring to sailors in an overcrowded lifeboat.
'I was one of the last to be winched up. When I got inside the helicopter, one of my pals pointed to the co-pilot and said it was Prince Andrew.
'He was very cool, just like the rest of the helicopter crew. He and the rest of the crew did a great job. It would be nice if I could buy them a pint to say thanks one day.'
Like so many men and women who served our nations in the field of war, Andrew was no doubt scarred by his time in such conditions.
He went on to serve 22 years in active service for his nation.
Act III: “The Judgment of Our Age”
To have a friendship with a man who turned out to be a bastard does not make him a bastard. It just makes him a poor judge of character.
But does that make him unworthy of having his service deleted?
I have to say that this is much like the witch hunt that has gone on in Australia with Ben Roberts Smith.
It is, in my opinion, nothing more than politics and media sharks on a feeding frenzy, whether that is on MSM or social media. And unfortunately, politics is what drives our world today.
War heroes stripped of their medals to appease the woke mob.
Andrew and Ben Roberts-Smith are heroes. Yet politicians have stripped them of medals and, in effect, their patriotism. Is this politics or justice?
Falling into the sea can sometimes allow us to see.
War heroes are not saints. They are flawed men who stared down hell so others wouldn’t have to. In my opinion, a man can be both a “bloke” and be honourable. We just have to be grown-up enough to hold both truths.
Shaydee
