Pray Beth is safe

[Bethers]

Beth, I am glad things weren't as bad as described or shown on the news. Was 45 still there when that happened?

He hadn't given his speech yet... No way of knowing if he had already arrived or not.

[JudyJB]

Here is another one--Did you see the photo of Epstein and his friend sitting on the British throne on the CNN online page? (The same photo is on a lot of news pages, not just CNN, by the way.) The suggestion is that they were given a big privilege by Prince Andrew. However, I have been in that "throne room" in Buckingham Palace. The palace is open for tours in August and September when the Queen is away at Balmoral. They take you through a lot of the public reception rooms. Cost is about $30 per person, and there are thousands of people go through each day. They have done tours since at least 2003. At the end, you go through the palace gift shop so you can buy souvenirs.

Yes, the "thrones" shown in the photo are in the ballroom. You are not allowed to take photos, but basically this is a large room with red carpeting and padded benches along the side. The benches along the side are the only places you are allowed to sit and rest while on the tour, which is what a lot of us did. Yes, there are two thrones at the end of the room, but these are not the only British "thrones." There are similar chairs in several places where the queen might sit. This room is also known as the ballroom and used as a dining room for large groups, but it is NOT where queens and kings are crowned! Certainly, you are not allowed to sit on them or any of the other chairs in the palace, but I can envision that with 40 people on a tour, if a tour guide is not paying attention, you could easily sneak up and sit on the thrones long enough to have someone take a photo.

The newspaper is insinuating that because they had a photo of them sitting on the "thrones" that Prince Andrew must have taken them there and allowed them to sit on the thrones. That might be true, but it is not proof of anything.