AS the shaming headlines swirled around Prince Andrews porky head, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn faced the nation in a televised debate.
And to howls of derisive laughter, came a question from the audience nobody would have dreamed of asking in our recent past. Boris and Corbyn were asked if the monarchy was fit for purpose.
Corbyn, not usually the fastest thinker on the block, immediately shot back, It needs a bit of improvement.
Johnsons response was slick evasion, perhaps too slick, saying the institution of the monarchy itself was beyond reproach.
And who got the biggest applause? Who got the appreciative chortles?
It wasnt the royalist Tory. It was the sneering old terrorist-sympathiser who loathes everything the royal family stands for.
And here was the measure of the historic crisis currently engulfing our royal family. Toxic Andrew has made anti-monarchy sentiment look mainstream.
The Crown is in uncharted waters. To survive the royal family needs our respect, our affection…and our money.
‘BEYOND REPROACH’
At 93, the Queen has spent her lifetime building the bond she has with our people. But what happens when she is gone?
The Queen has been on the throne for a staggering 67 years. The Grandmother of the nation, this glorious Queen is the main reason the monarchy is still revered by the vast majority of the British people.
But even a committed monarchist cant help wondering how long the institution can survive without her.
We are now bang in the middle of the biggest royal crisis since Edward VIII abdicated in 1936.
In a General Election campaign there should be no royal activity that gets in the way of national debate. A little ribbon cutting is fine Charles and Camilla are on a successful tour of New Zealand, although you may have blinked and missed it.
Yet now we are discussing Prince Andrews friendship with a convicted child abuser when we should be talking about the future of our country.
Our people are monarchists, but not mugs.
SELF-INFLICTED
Andrews self-inflicted humiliation has shone a withering spotlight on a spoilt stupid man who has lived a life of unimaginable privilege without having to do anything to earn it. And in his fall from grace, there is a salutary lesson for every member of the royal family if the monarchy is to last.
The current disconnect between them and us goes beyond His Royal Sleazeball, Prince Andrew. I was among those crowds in Windsor when Harry married Meghan last year.
We were happy Dianas youngest son, who as a 12-year-old boy took that heartbreaking walk behind his mothers coffin, had found the love of his life. We were happy that the royal family had a glamorous, modern, mixed-race woman joining its ranks.
But Harry and Meghan have soon grown weary of the reality of royal duties the attention, the interest, the fact you cant lecture about climate change from your private jet without getting called a hypocrite.
The touchy, thin-skinned self-pity of Harry and Meghan feels like a golden nail in the coffin of the monarchy. But the royal family is not finished yet.
The Queens glorious reign has made it part of the fabric of British life. Prince Charles plans a slimmed-down monarchy when he accedes to the throne and that is surely the way to proceed.
Let Prince Andrew be the very last of the royal freeloaders sunning their bloated bellies on some dodgy billionaires yacht.
