Summary
Peacock’s true crime diversion, Prince Andrew: Banished, does nothing but rehash, reuse, and regurgitate.
Peacock documentary film Prince Andrew: Banished was released on October 5th, 2022 – read our review of the documentary.
The Peacock original documentary was supposed to be a deep dive into the privileged world of Prince Andrew and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Instead, Prince Andrew: Banished offers very little insight into that relationship — there is nothing here we didn’t know before. By all means, YouTube old Dateline, 20/20, or 48-Hours on the subject. All the latest Peacock true crime diversion does is rehash, reuse, and regurgitate.
If you need some back story, Prince Andrew is the youngest of Queen Elizabeth‘s sons. Known as the bad boy of the royal family, the speculation is that “Randy” Andy grew up spoiled. And if you are the star youngest son of one of the richest families of squatters in world history, you can see why. From an early age, he was the youngest and could do no wrong, according to “new interviews” and insights. When you’re a prince, you are never wrong and always getting your way, which leads to toxic masculinity issues.
Except, in 1982, during The Falklands War — ten weeks long and cost almost a thousand lives — he acted brave while flying choppers, including anti-surface warfare and casualty evacuation; he was heroic. Oh, and the cameras were there to capture it. The Royal Family used Andrew as a publicity stunt, making him a household name because he was rugged and handsome. That was the height of his popularity. Where did it all go wrong? Well, Prince Andrew was known as a bit of a brat, the boy prince who never grew up, and mistreats the staff, particularly women. There’s a story about how the 41 one-year-old man still collects teddy bears. He even kept a picture for housekeeping of how he wanted his toys to be put back on the bed. You know, after they made it for him.
This led to an embarrassing divorce where Fergie cheated on him, all when the English paparazzi was in its full glory. The royal family had a decade of bad press and the crumbling marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Dianna. It didn’t help that Prince Andrew, per most of the documentary’s experts, kept acting like a frat boy through his 40s. He loved women, attention, being photographed, and the lavish lifestyle. In fact, Randy Andy was the first social media star before it was a thing. However, as director Jamie Crawford points out, Andrew was not being paid like the star he was. While the Queen and his brother Charles made around 30 million a year, Andrew took in only £350,000 a year — I know, poor guy.
Before you start to say “poor guy”, this could support his lavish lifestyle. Even after giving him a fake job to pay for his overseas dalliances, he started a relationship of convenience. Andrew needed to find a sponsor of sorts to support his lavish lifestyle, and Epstein acted as his Sugar Daddy. Epstein acquired status because Americans “love a title” and wanted to be at royal events. The point the filmmakers missed here opened a new avenue for sex trafficking for Epstein.
How is any of this new? It isn’t. What is new is that Crawford plays most of the film for laughs by pointing out the bratty and barbaric behavior. Even though this is a documentary, Andrew is a typical cliche of entitled white men who love to abuse their power. It’s a strange choice considering the final third discusses his association with Epstein and offering up underage girls for sex work. If you watch a film like Spencer, the documentary The Princess, and even Netflix’s The Empress, women marry into royal families.
Don’t get me wrong, Prince Andrew: Banished may satisfy fans of true crime docuseries and those fascinated with these figures. However, this is all repackaging, pure and simple, which makes it strictly for fans of the genre or the royal way of life — or abusing power.
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