Four key takeaways from upcoming Prince Andrew expose
A book that “traces the lives of the late queen’s second son”, will be published next week. Here are four of the key takeaways.
Source: BBC Newsnight
A grim-faced Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, have been snapped for the first time since explosive allegations emerged in an upcoming bombshell royal expose.
The Duke of York, the younger brother of the King, and his former wife, both 65, were pictured driving near their home on the Windsor Castle estate last Monday.
Andrew and Sarah, the parents of Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, have famously remained close since their divorce nearly 30 years ago.
Monday’s car trip was followed by what is being interpreted as a cryptic unspoken response to the upcoming Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, by Andrew Lownie.
Earlier this week, the duchess shared photos from an outing to promote her own new book – showing her wearing custom loafers embroidered with the royal family’s unofficial motto: “Never complain, never explain.”
Lownie’s book, which reportedly draws on four years of research and “traces the lives of the late queen’s second son and his ex-wife through their childhoods, courtship, marriage, divorce, careers and royal and charitable activities”, will be published next week.
But the Daily Mail has already published excerpts. The biography paints a deeply unflattering portrait of Andrew — alleging everything from a violent altercation with his nephew, Prince Harry, to lurid behaviour involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Here are four of the key takeaways.
Prince Andrew with family, including Prince Harry at the funeral for the late queen in 2022 Photo: Getty
1. A ‘bloody nose’ from Harry
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Lownie alleges Harry gave Andrew a bloody nose in a “heated argument” at a family gathering in which “punches were thrown”.
“Harry got the better of Andrew,” the book claims.
The fight is alleged to have been sparked after Andrew told the Duke of Sussex that his marriage to Meghan Markle would not last more than a month. He also apparently described Meghan as an “opportunist”.
The California-based Harry was quick to deny the allegations.
“Prince Harry and Prince Andrew have never had a physical fight, nor did Prince Andrew ever make the comments he’s alleged to have made about the Duchess of Sussex to Prince Harry,” a spokesperson for him said last weekend.
“Such are the gross inaccuracies, damaging and defamatory remarks made in the Daily Mail‘s story, I can confirm a legal letter from Prince Harry’s counsel has been sent to the Mail.”
The book also alleges years of tensions between the Duke of York and Harry and his brother, Prince William.
“William has long worked behind the scenes to evict his uncle from Royal Lodge, the home he occupies in Windsor Great Park. He thinks Andrew is abusing the property and his privilege there,” Lownie reports a source telling him.
Prince Andrew and his brother, then Prince Charles, at the 2015 Garter parade.
2. ‘Unbelievably cruel’
The book also claims that Andrew once called a royal staff member a “f—ing imbecile” for failing to give the Queen Mother her full title.
“He could be unbelievably cruel,” Lownie wrote, of Andrew about royal employees.
“Andrew asked the head of the household, David Anderson, if there was any damage. ‘Yes, sir,’ responded Anderson. ‘The tree which was planted by the Queen Mother.’
“This was followed by a withering silence, then Andrew said in a mocking voice, ‘Did you mean Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother?’
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“He then asked the poor man how long he had worked for the royal family. Anderson replied, ‘I joined in 1984, sir.’
“‘And you still don’t know the proper way to refer to my grandmother? You f—ing imbecile. Get out’,” the book claims.
Prince Andrew has consistently denied Virginia Giuffre’s allegations.
3. Epstein relationship
The duke’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has long been controversial – and was largely responsible for him being forced to step back from public duties.
Lownie alleges Epstein sold Andrew’s “most intimate secrets” to foreign intelligence agencies around the world, including to Israel’s Mossad, the Saudi Arabian authorities and the Libyan intelligence services under Colonel Gaddafi.
Andrew “was easy prey for a rattlesnake like Epstein”, Lownie writes.
“Epstein played Andrew. The prince was a useful idiot who gave him respectability, access to political leaders and business opportunities. He found him easy to exploit.”
The late Virgina Giuffre accused Andrew and Epstein of sexual assault. He denied any wrongdoing in a now-infamous 2019 interview with BBC’s Newsnight.
Among Andrew’s claims were that he had no memory of meeting Giuffre, despite there being a photo of them together.
Giuffre later filed a lawsuit against the prince in 2021. They settled the following year outside of court for an undisclosed amount of money, believed to be multiple millions.
Giuffre, who went on to live in Western Australia, took her own life earlier this year, aged 41.
A family outing with daughters Beatrice, left, and Eugenie in 2019.
4. Relationship with Sarah
Andrew slept with “more than a dozen women before their first anniversary”, the Duke of York’s former driver tells Lownie.
The prince was still in the Royal Navy when he and Sarah wed in 1986. Famously, he spent most of his life at sea and was home for only 42 days of one year.
“Sarah discovered Andrew wasn’t coming home on some of his leave. He was going elsewhere — and this just drove her crazy,” the driver cited as a royal source shares in Entitled.
“She didn’t like the fact she was a shore widow, and to discover she was shore-widowed intentionally really hurt.”
The Yorks divorced in May 1996. But they still live together at Royal Lodge and often appear at functions – including royal family occasions – together.
Elsewhere in the book, a former courtier said, that rather than romance, the pair had “the deepest form of friendship, a very unusual relationship for a divorced couple, especially to the outside world, but they’re utterly devoted and would defend each other to the death”.
Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York is released on August 14
