Though she's wearing another of her hats as she merrily promotes her son, that's our Queen, and our Head of State doing this. :angry:

I've been expecting Andrew's mommy to give him a new honor just like she did last time he was in hot water back in 2011 when she made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.
This turning a blind eye to Andrew's many transgressions makes me admire Queen Mary even more, I'm sure she loved her son David, but she chose to support her second son when David refused to put duty before personal gratification.

In 2011 The Queen also gave the same award to Edward and he hadn't done anything outrageous. I suspect that The Queen had planned these awards in advance and decided to ignore other events and go ahead anyway. She knows that Charles won't be giving her younger sons any more gongs so she is going to give them all she can in the time she has left.

I thoroughly agree, Sndral. For Queen Mary duty to one's country came before everything. This is the worst possible timing and as an Australian monarchist I am in despair over this move. Could'nt the Queen's advisers have suggested a postponement?

It's no surprise Andrew has received a promotion like this. I wonder how people are going to act when The Queen gives the Duchess if Cambridge some honorary military appointments?

I'm feeling the same I can't defend this to my friends that want a republic because it's just so very wrong
I wonder if anyone did advise a postponement and it wasn't listen too



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I can still only see in the times any chance they could be wrong 🙏


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I agree that this was not the right time, but calm down.

From The Times.
A royal source said it was a standard Ministry of Defence promotion that related to the rank the duke would have reached had he stayed in the navy.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “This was approved by the Queen in line with long-standing convention covering military promotions for members of the royal family.”

The duke, who served in the Falklands War as a helicopter pilot, left the Royal Navy in 2001. Since the allegations about him — which he strongly denies — surfaced in the US, he has continued his work with training, technology and entrepreneurship.

People will use anything to have a go.

Not sure what this means


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Well twitter is going off about this some are very funny all very interesting


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Dickie Arbiter
So The Duke of York is now a Vice-Admiral. His brother in law Tim Laurence became one on merit working his way up through the ranks


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Indeed there will be 2 BRF visits in two weeks, but the purpose and scope of the two visits are very different. Andrew is visiting for a specific event. Prince Charles' trip, at the behest of the government, is really, IMO, about engaging select M-E governments in this time of change. He made a very similar trip around 2 years ago once there was regime change in Qatar as well.

With regard to Andrew's promotion, I am not surprised people will be unhappy about it. All I can say is that the "Monarchy machine" with all its protocols, procedures and traditions carries on regardless of negative media reports or current ways of thinking. In some ways, that is a good thing and underlines the continuity aspect of monarchy, thus why should a few recent news stories halt what was going to happen anyway.

I can't see that Charles will change the rules - after all, thankfully, he has only two sons, one of whom will be king and the other will have probably continued his career and been promoted to higher ranks that way.

Congratiulations to the Duke of York!

It was no surprise. The official position of the Palace is that His Royal Highness is totally innocent and therefore the allegations that have been made against him should be ignored.

Award?

It is about a military rank, not an award.

And the Queen did not gave "the same award" (I suppose here is meant: military rank) to Prince Edward. The last one is a Commodore of the Royal Fleet Auxilliary (=civilian fleet owned by the Ministry of Defense) and that is a couple of ranks lower and far less prestigious than a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy.

Both the Princes William and Harry will be promoted and promoted, after all Prince William will once reach the status of Commander-in-Chief and enjoy the highest ranks. Prince Harry will probably reach the same status as his father enjoys now: Field Marshal in the British Army, Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Navy, Air Marshal in the Royal Air Force...

:flowers:

Prince Andrew, Duke of York Current Events 8: February 2015
 

Does Andrew hold any commissions in the Army and RAF? I know William and Charles have Army, Navy & RAF commissions and have worn all 3 uniforms. Harry, I believe, only has an Army one and we have never seen him wear a Navy or Raf uniform that I recall. I don't remember seeing Andrew in anything other than a naval uniform.

It makes sense that the direct heir has all 3 since they will be head of the armed forces but doesn't seem a necessary for the spare.


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No, what Andrew and Edward both got in 2011 was the award of the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, which is the the highest possible honour for distinguished ‘personal service’ to the Queen. It has nothing to do with the military. In Andrew's case, it was highly controversial: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...hile-link.html

Interestingly, The Countess of Wessex has been a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victoria Order since 2010, receiving her gong the year before her husband got his.

The Duke of York has been in military service and had active duty during the Falklands military campaign. He indeed "only" served in the Royal Navy. Before Prince Harry, he was the last most recent British Royal with real battlefield experience. The Duke has many commissions as Royal Colonel in different branches of the armed forces.

When the Duke of Cambridge walked down the aisle with Catherine, he suddenly wore the striking scarlet uniform of the Irish Guards while he was actively working as Lieutenant in the RAF. He just wore the red uniform as Honorary Royal Colonel of the Irish Guards. This is a proof that Andrew also can wear other uniforms as he wants, for an example the one of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (The Prince of Wales's).

Two things:
Congrats Vice Admiral Andrew - BBC News - Prince Andrew promoted to vice-admiral on 55th birthday
and link to Andrew's honorary military appointments (scroll down) Prince Andrew, Duke of York - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I went to the Duke of York's website the only military ranks it talks about is his naval ones - he retired as a Commander and then was promoted to honorary Captain, Rear Admiral and now Vice Admiral.

The honorary appointments of royal colonels, Commodores in Chiefs of regiments, Raf bases and Naval divisions are separate from his military rank in the service that holds his commission.

William is colonel of the Irish Guards but if he rejoined his army regiment that holds his commission The Blues and Royals today- he is just a Captain which is his current rank.
The same for the Navy where he is a Lieutenant and the RAF where he is a Ft. Lieutenant despite having higher honorary positions in the Navy and RAF.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.




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That's right. William and Charles hold commissions in all three branches of the service in addition to any honorary appointments they may hold.

Andrew has only served in the Navy

The Monarchy website has not been updated to note the latest promotion. It currently says this about Andrew, on his "Service Appointments" page:

"The Duke of York is a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy and holds two naval service appointments:
- Commodore-in-Chief, Fleet Air Arm, since 2006
- Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps, which he took over from The Duke of Edinburgh in 1992"

It then goes on to list his various "appointments" in the UK and Commonwealth forces. It is only in respect of his RAF appointment that it is mentioned that the appointment is Honorary.

It is this failure to make it clear that the appointments are honorary that I object to. I don't care how many honorary ranks he holds in however many regiments TPTB choose to give him and the other members of the RF, because I think there is a good reason for them, but I do think it should be made unambiguously clear that he has earned none of the ranks he has received since 2001.

We know he served with some distinction in the RAN but he left the navy in 2001 with the rank of Commander, and that is what his real rank is, and it's a perfectly fine rank, too. However he has never done anything to earn the rank of Commodore or Rear Admiral or Vice Admiral, and what would the Fleet Air Arm, of which the website would have us believe he has been Commodore-in-Chief since 2006, think if he turned up and started issuing orders there? Those recent ranks and appointments are clearly honorary and to imply, as the website does, that the ranks he has been promoted to since 2001 are genuine (by which I mean earned) is downright deceitful, IMO.

:previous:

This is what was published in the Times on the Court Page

Her Majesty The Queen has graciously agreed that: Rear Admiral His Royal Highness The Duke of York KG GCVO ADC be promoted Vice Admiral with effect from February 19, 2015, and Honorary Rear Admiral His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent GCVO be promoted Honorary Vice Admiral Royal Naval Reserve with effect from March 9, 2015