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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
Son of Elizabeth II (born 1960) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Andrew Albert Christian Edward Mountbatten-Windsor (born 19 February 1960), formerly Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a younger brother of King Charles III. Andrew was born second in the line of succession to the British throne and is eighth as of 2025.
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Andrew served in the Royal Navy between 1979 and 2001 as a helicopter pilot and instructor and as the captain of a warship. During the Falklands War he flew on multiple missions including anti-surface warfare, casualty evacuation and Exocet missile decoy. He married Sarah Ferguson in 1986, and was created Duke of York on his wedding day. They had two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, before they separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. Andrew served as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment from 2001 to 2011, resigning amidst scrutiny over his expenses and associations with figures including the American child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. He continued to undertake official duties on behalf of Elizabeth II until 2019.
In 2014 Virginia Giuffre alleged that, as a 17-year-old, she had been sex-trafficked in the United States to Andrew by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell; Maxwell was convicted of child sex trafficking in 2021. Andrew denied any wrongdoing, but amidst growing criticism of his association with Epstein and Maxwell he permanently stepped back from public roles in May 2020. Between August 2021 and February 2022 he was the defendant in a civil lawsuit over sexual assault filed by Giuffre in the United States. It was settled out of court, and Andrew paid an undisclosed sum to Giuffre without admission of liability. In January 2022 Elizabeth II removed his honorary military affiliations and royal charitable patronages, and he ceased using the style "His Royal Highness".
In October 2025, amidst ongoing controversy surrounding Andrew's association with Epstein, "a formal process" to remove his style, titles and honours was initiated by Charles III. Andrew will also leave his home, Royal Lodge, and relocate to a property on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.
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Early life
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During a 45-day tour of Canada in June and July 1959, Queen Elizabeth II discovered she was pregnant. The pregnancy was not disclosed to the public during the tour. After her return to London,[1] Buckingham Palace indicated on 7 August that she was expecting a baby by announcing that she would not undertake further public engagements.[2]
Andrew was born a prince in the Belgian Suite at Buckingham Palace on 19 February 1960 at 3:30 pm,[3] the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He was christened Andrew Albert Christian Edward in the Music Room of the palace on 8 April 1960.[4]
Andrew was the first child born to a reigning British monarch since Princess Beatrice in 1857.[5] Like his siblings, Charles, Anne and Edward, Andrew was looked after by a governess, who was responsible for his early education at Buckingham Palace.[6] He was sent to Heatherdown School near Ascot in Berkshire.[7] In September 1973 he entered Gordonstoun in Moray, which his father and elder brother had also attended.[8] He was nicknamed "the Sniggerer" by his schoolmates at Gordonstoun, because of "his penchant for off-colour jokes, at which he laughed inordinately".[9][10] While there, he spent six months – from January to June 1977 – participating in an exchange programme to Lakefield College School in Canada.[7][11] He left Gordonstoun in July two years later with A-levels[11] in English, history and economics.[12]
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Naval military service
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Training
The Royal Household announced in November 1978 that Andrew would join the Royal Navy the following year. In December he underwent various sporting tests and examinations at the Aircrew Selection Centre, at RAF Biggin Hill, along with further tests and interviews at HMS Daedalus, and interviews at the Admiralty Interview Board, HMS Sultan. During March and April 1979 he was enrolled at the Royal Naval College Flight, undergoing pilot training, until he was accepted as a trainee helicopter pilot and signed on for 12 years from 11 May 1979. On 1 September of the same year, Andrew was appointed as a midshipman, and entered Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. During 1979 he also completed the Royal Marines All Arms Commando Course for which he received his Green Beret.[13] He was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant on 1 September 1981 and appointed to the Trained Strength on 22 October.[14]
After passing out from Dartmouth, Andrew went on to elementary flying training with the Royal Air Force at RAF Leeming, and later, basic flying training with the navy at HMS Seahawk, where he learned to fly the Gazelle helicopter.[13] After being awarded his wings, he moved on to more advanced training on the Sea King helicopter, and conducted operational flying training until 1982. He joined 820 Naval Air Squadron on the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible.[13]
Falklands War
On 2 April 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory claimed by it, leading to the Falklands War.[15] Invincible was one of the two operational aircraft carriers available at the time, and, as such played a major role in the Royal Navy task force assembled to sail south to retake the islands.[16]
Andrew's place on board and the possibility of one of the Queen's sons being killed in action made the British government apprehensive, and the Cabinet desired that he be moved to a desk job for the duration of the conflict. The Queen, though, insisted that her son be allowed to remain with his ship.[17] Andrew remained on board Invincible to serve as a Sea King helicopter co-pilot, flying on missions that included anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, Exocet missile decoy, casualty evacuation, transport, and search and air rescue.[18][19][20] He witnessed the Argentine attack on SS Atlantic Conveyor.[21]
At the end of the war, Invincible returned to Portsmouth, where Elizabeth and Philip joined other families of the crew in welcoming the vessel home. According to historian Andrew Lownie the Argentine military government planned, but ultimately did not attempt, to assassinate Andrew on Mustique in July 1982.[22] Although he had brief assignments to HMS Illustrious, RNAS Culdrose, and the School of Service Intelligence, Andrew remained with Invincible until 1983. Commander Nigel Ward's memoir, Sea Harrier Over the Falklands, described Andrew as "an excellent pilot and a very promising officer."[23]
Career officer
In late 1983 Andrew transferred to RNAS Portland, and was trained to fly the Lynx helicopter.[13] On 1 February 1984 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant,[24] whereupon Elizabeth appointed him her personal aide-de-camp.[25] Andrew served aboard HMS Brazen as a flight pilot until 1986,[13] including deployment to the Mediterranean Sea as part of Standing NRF Maritime Group 2. He undertook the Lieutenants' Greenwich Staff course. On 23 October 1986 he transferred to the General List, enrolled in a four-month helicopter warfare instructor's course at RNAS Yeovilton, and, upon graduation, served from February 1987 to April 1988 as a helicopter warfare officer in 702 Naval Air Squadron, RNAS Portland. He also served on HMS Edinburgh as an officer of the watch and Assistant Navigating Officer until 1989, including a six-month deployment to the Far East as part of exercise Outback 88.[13]
Andrew served as flight commander and pilot of the Lynx HAS3 on HMS Campbeltown from 1989 to 1991. He also acted as force aviation officer to Standing NRF Maritime Group 1 while Campbeltown was flagship of the NATO force in the North Atlantic from 1990 to 1991.[13] He passed the squadron command examination on 16 July 1991, attended the Staff College, Camberley, the following year, and completed the Army Staff course. He was promoted to lieutenant-commander on 1 February and passed the ship command examination on 12 March 1992. From 1993 to 1994 Andrew commanded the Hunt-class minehunter HMS Cottesmore.[13]
From 1995 to 1996 Andrew was posted as senior pilot of 815 Naval Air Squadron, then the largest flying unit in the Fleet Air Arm. His main responsibility was to supervise flying standards and to guarantee an effective operational capability.[13] He was promoted to commander on 27 April 1999,[13] finishing his active naval career at the Ministry of Defence in 2001, as an officer of the Diplomatic Directorate of the Naval Staff.[13] In July of that year Andrew was retired from the Active List of the Navy.[26] In 2004 he was made an honorary captain,[27] promoted to rear admiral on his 50th birthday on 19 February 2010,[28] and to vice admiral in 2015.[29][30]
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Personal life
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Relationships
Before marriage
In May 1978, the Evening Standard noted that Andrew had acquired the nickname "Randy Andy" ("randy" being British slang for "sexually eager") while at Gordonstoun, due to being romantically involved with several women.[31] UPI also confirmed this nickname, saying that before his naval career in 1979 he was known as "Randy Andy" and "seemed to be in training as a professional playboy".[32]
Andrew met the American photographer and actress Koo Stark in February 1981, before his active service in the Falklands War.[33][34] In October 1982, they took a holiday together on the island of Mustique.[35][36] Tina Brown said that Stark was Andrew's only serious love interest.[37] In 1983 they split up under pressure from the press, paparazzi and the palace.[33][37] In 1997 Andrew became godfather to Stark's daughter.[38] When Andrew was facing accusations in 2015 over his connection to Jeffrey Epstein, Stark came to his defence.[33]
Marriage and children
Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey on 23 July 1986. On the same day, Elizabeth created him Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh;[39] the first two of these titles were previously held by both his maternal grandfather, George VI, and his great-grandfather George V. Andrew had known Ferguson since childhood; they had met occasionally at polo matches, and became reacquainted with each other at Royal Ascot in 1985.[40]
The couple initially appeared to have a happy marriage and had two daughters together, Beatrice and Eugenie, presenting a united outward appearance during the late 1980s. Sarah's personal qualities were seen as refreshing in the context of the formal protocol surrounding the royal family.[40] Andrew's frequent travel due to his military career, as well as relentless, often critical, media attention on the Duchess of York, led to fractures in the marriage.[41][42] On 19 March 1992 the couple announced plans to separate and did so in an amicable way.[43] That August, tabloid media outlets published pictures of businessman John Bryan sucking on Sarah's toes, which, in effect, ended any hopes of a reconciliation between Andrew and Ferguson. Ferguson had claimed throughout the separation that Bryan was her financial adviser, a claim that Andrew believed.[44]
The marriage ended in divorce on 30 May 1996. Andrew spoke fondly of his former wife in 2008: "We have managed to work together to bring our children up in a way that few others have been able to and I am extremely grateful to be able to do that."[45]
In May 2010 Ferguson was filmed by a News of the World reporter saying Andrew had agreed that if she were to receive £500,000, he would meet the donor and pass on useful top-level business contacts. She was filmed receiving, in cash, US$40,000 as a down-payment. The paper said that Andrew did not know of the arrangement.[46] In July 2011, Ferguson stated that her multi-million-pound debts had been cleared due to the intervention of her former husband, whom she compared to a "knight on a white charger".[47]
In 2011 Ferguson said that she had made a "gigantic error of judgement" in allowing Epstein to pay off a debt for her, and apologised for accepting money from him. She did, however, continue to defend Andrew's controversial former friendship with Epstein.[48][49] It later emerged that following her public statement she had sent an email to Epstein in which she referred to him as "a steadfast, generous and supreme friend".[50]
Post-divorce
In 1999, Andrew was briefly in a relationship with Lady Victoria Hervey, who has since made controversial statements of support.[51]
Residences
As Andrew and Ferguson shared custody of their two daughters, the family continued to live at Sunninghill Park (built near Windsor Great Park for the couple in 1990) until Andrew moved to the Royal Lodge in 2004. In 2007 Ferguson moved into Dolphin House in Englefield Green, less than a mile from the Royal Lodge.[52] In 2008 a fire at Dolphin House[52] resulted in Ferguson moving into Royal Lodge, again sharing a house with Andrew.[53] As of 2025 they were still cohabiting there.[54] Andrew's lease of Royal Lodge was for 75 years, with the Crown Estate as landlord, at a cost of a single £1 million premium and a commitment to spend £7.5 million on refurbishment.[55] In March 2023 it was reported that Andrew had been offered Frogmore Cottage after his nephew Prince Harry was requested to vacate the residence.[56] The offer came amid reports that Andrew could no longer afford the Royal Lodge's running costs as he was about to lose his annual grant.[57] In October 2025, it was reported that Andrew paid a peppercorn rent for the lease of the Royal Lodge in return for upfront payments of £8.5 million and that the legal agreement stipulated he and his family were entitled to live in the property until 2078.[58][59] Later that month, Buckingham Palace announced that formal notice had been served to surrender the lease, and Andrew would move to alternative private accommodation on the Sandringham Estate.[60]
Andrew is a keen skier and in 2014 bought a skiing chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, for £13 million jointly with his ex-wife.[61] In May 2020, it was reported that they were in a legal dispute over the mortgage.[62] To purchase the chalet, they secured a loan of £13.25 million and were expected to pay £5 million in cash instalments which, after applying interest, amounted to £6.8 million.[63] Despite claims that the Queen would help pay, a spokesperson for Andrew confirmed that she "will not be stepping in to settle the debt".[64] The Times reported in September 2021 that Andrew and Ferguson had reached a legal agreement with the property's previous owner and would sell the house.[65] The owner agreed to receive £3.4 million, half of the amount that she was owed, as she had been under the impression that Andrew and Ferguson were dealing with financial troubles.[63] The money from selling the property is reportedly to be used to pay Andrew's legal expenses over the civil lawsuit as well.[66] In June 2022 it was reported in Le Temps, a Swiss newspaper, that the chalet has been frozen because of a £1.6 million debt Andrew owes unnamed people. Law professor Nicolas Jeandin told Le Temps "A sale is in principle impossible, except with the agreement of the creditor."[67][68]
Health
On 2 June 2022 Andrew tested positive for COVID-19, and it was announced that he would not be present at the Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral on 3 June.[69] Andrew is a teetotaller.[70]
Interests
Andrew is a keen golfer and has had a low single-figure handicap.[71] He was captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews between 2003 and 2004 – during the club's 250th anniversary season – was patron of a number of royal golf clubs, and had been elected as an honorary member of many others. In 2004, he was criticised by Labour Co-op MP Ian Davidson, who in a letter to the NAO questioned Andrew's decision to fly to St Andrews on RAF planes for two golfing trips.[72] Andrew resigned his honorary membership of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews when the Queen removed royal patronages at several golf clubs.[73][74] His honorary membership of the Royal Dornoch Golf Club was revoked in the following month.[75]
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Charitable work
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Patronages
Andrew was patron of the Middle East Association (MEA), the UK's premier organisation for promoting trade and good relations with the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Iran.[76] After his role as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment ended, Andrew continued to support UK enterprise without a special role. Robert Jobson said he did this work well and wrote, "He is particularly passionate when dealing with young start-up entrepreneurs and bringing them together with successful businesses at networking and showcasing events. Andrew is direct and to the point, and his methods seem to work".[77] He was also patron of Fight for Sight, a charity dedicated to research into the prevention and treatment of blindness and eye disease,[78] and was a member of the Scout Association.[79] He toured Canada frequently to undertake duties related to his Canadian military role. Rick Peters, the former commanding officer of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada stated that Andrew was "very well informed on Canadian military methods".[80] He became the patron of the charity Attend[81] in 2003, and was a member of the International Advisory Board of the Royal United Services Institute.
On 3 September 2012 Andrew was among a team of 40 people who abseiled down The Shard (tallest building in Europe) to raise money for educational charities the Outward Bound Trust and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund.[82][83] He lent his support to organisations that focus on science and technology by becoming the patron of Catalyst Inc and TeenTech.[84][85][86] In 2014 Andrew visited Geneva, Switzerland, to promote British science at CERN's 60th anniversary celebrations.[87]
In 2013 it was announced that Andrew was becoming the patron of London Metropolitan University[88] and the University of Huddersfield.[89][90] In July 2015, he was installed as Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield.[91] In recognition of Andrew's promotion of entrepreneurship he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge on 1 May 2018.[92] On 19 November 2019 the Students' Union of the University of Huddersfield passed a motion to lobby Andrew to resign as its chancellor, as London Metropolitan University was considering Andrew's role as its patron.[93] On 21 November Andrew relinquished his role as Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield.[94]
In March 2019 Andrew took over the patronage of the Outward Bound Trust from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, serving up until his own resignation in November 2019.[95] Andrew had held the position of chairman of the board of trustees of the organisation since 1999.[96][97] In May 2019 it was announced that Andrew had succeeded Lord Carrington as patron of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust.[98]
On 13 January 2022 it was announced that his royal patronages had been handed back to the Queen to be distributed among other members of the royal family.[99] In January 2023 it was reported that King Charles III had agreed to let Andrew pursue some business interests.[100]
In July 2025 the philanthropy adviser Giving Evidence published research on the impact of Andrew's charity patronages prior to his retirement from public duties on the charities' incomes. The study found that the revenues at approximately half of the 35 registered charities in England of which Andrew had been the sole royal patron rose after Andrew's patronage ended, falling for the other half. Researchers then compared the 35 charities with others in the country, and found "no material differences in revenue patterns when Andrew's patronages ceased". That and earlier studies supported the conclusion that having a royal patron did not help charities.[101]
Initiatives
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While touring India as a part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012,[102] Andrew became interested in the work of Women's Interlink Foundation (WIF), a charity which helps women acquire skills to earn income. He and his family later initiated Key to Freedom, a project which tries to "find a route to market for products made by WIF".[103][104]
In 2014 Andrew founded the Pitch@Palace initiative[105] to support entrepreneurs with the amplification and acceleration of their business ideas. Entrepreneurs selected for Pitch@Palace Bootcamp were officially invited by Andrew[106] to attend St James's Palace in order to pitch their ideas and to be connected with potential investors, mentors and business contacts.[107] In May 2018 he visited China and opened the Pitch@Palace China Bootcamp 2.0 at Peking University.[108] On 18 November 2019 accountancy firm KPMG announced it would not be renewing its sponsorship of Andrew's entrepreneurial scheme Pitch@Palace,[109] and on 19 November Standard Chartered also withdrew its support.[110]
Andrew founded The Prince Andrew Charitable Trust which aimed to support young people in different areas such as education and training.[111] In May 2020 it was reported that the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust was under investigation by the Charity Commission regarding some regulatory issues about £350,000 of payments to his former private secretary Amanda Thirsk.[112] He also founded a number of awards including Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA), a programme to develop the digital and enterprise skills,[113][114] the Duke of York Award for Technical Education, given to talented young people in technical education,[115][116] and the Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Award, which recognised talents of young people in entrepreneurship.[117] Andrew was also involved with the private limited company the Duke of York's Community Initiative (known as the Yorkshire Foundation between 2005 and 2011) and with a charity of similar name, which operated to support voluntary organisations in Yorkshire and were dissolved in 2023 and 2024, respectively.[118][119]
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Trade and commercial activities
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Special Representative for International Trade and Investment
From 2001 to July 2011 Andrew worked with UK Trade & Investment, part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as the United Kingdom's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.[120] The post, previously held by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, involved representing and promoting the UK at various trade fairs and conferences around the world.[6] His suitability for the role was challenged in the House of Commons by Shadow Justice Minister Chris Bryant in February 2011, at the time of the 2011 Libyan civil war, on the grounds that he was "not only a very close friend of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, but also ... a close friend of the convicted Libyan gun smuggler Tarek Kaituni".[121][122] Further problems arose as he hosted a lunch for Sakher El Materi, a member of the corrupt Tunisian regime, at Buckingham Palace around the time of the Tunisian Revolution.[123] Andrew also formed a friendship with Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan who has been criticised for corruption and for abuses of human rights by Amnesty International, and visited him both during and after his tenure as the UK trade envoy. As of November 2014, Andrew had met Aliyev, on 12 occasions.[124] The controversies, together with his ties to Epstein, made him step down from the role in 2011.[123]
Andrew did not receive a salary from the UK Trade & Investment for his role as Special Representative, but he went on expenses-paid delegations and was alleged to have occasionally used trips paid for by the government for his personal leisure, which earned him the nickname "Airmiles Andy" by the press.[123] On 8 March 2011 The Daily Telegraph reported: "In 2010, the Prince spent £620,000 as a trade envoy, including £154,000 on hotels, food and hospitality and £465,000 on travel."[125]
Alleged comments on corruption and Kazakhstan
As the United Kingdom's Special Trade Representative, Andrew travelled the world to promote British businesses. It was revealed in the United States diplomatic cables leak that Andrew had been reported on by Tatiana Gfoeller, the United States Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, discussing bribery in Kyrgyzstan and the investigation into the Al-Yamamah arms deal. Andrew, she explained, "was referencing an investigation, subsequently closed, into alleged kickbacks a senior Saudi royal had received in exchange for the multi-year, lucrative BAE Systems contract to provide equipment and training to Saudi security forces."[126] The dispatch continued: "His mother's subjects seated around the table roared their approval. He then went on to 'these (expletive) journalists, especially from the National Guardian [sic], who poke their noses everywhere' and (presumably) make it harder for British businessmen to do business. The crowd practically clapped!"[127]
In May 2008, he attended a goose-hunt in Kazakhstan with President Nursultan Nazarbayev.[128] In 2010, it was revealed that the President's billionaire son-in-law Timur Kulibayev paid Andrew's representatives £15 million – £3 million over the asking price – via offshore companies, for Andrew's Surrey mansion, Sunninghill Park. Kulibayev frequently appears in US diplomatic cables as one of the men who have accumulated millions in gas-rich Kazakhstan.[127] It was later revealed that Andrew's office tried to get a crown estate property close to Kensington Palace for Kulibayev at that time.[129]
In May 2012, it was reported that Swiss and Italian police investigating "a network of personal and business relationships" allegedly used for "international corruption" were looking at the activities of Enviro Pacific Investments which charges "multi-million pound fees" to energy companies wishing to deal with Kazakhstan.[130] The trust is believed to have paid £6 million towards the purchase of Sunninghill which now appears derelict.[130] In response, a Palace spokesman said "This was a private sale between two trusts. There was never any impropriety on the part of The Duke of York".[130]
Libby Purves wrote in The Times in January 2015: "Prince Andrew dazzles easily when confronted with immense wealth and apparent power. He has fallen for 'friendships' with bad, corrupt and clever men, not only in the US but in Libya, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, wherever."[131]
In May 2016, a fresh controversy broke out when the Daily Mail alleged that Andrew had brokered a deal to assist a Greek and Swiss consortium in securing a £385-million contract to build water and sewerage networks in two of Kazakhstan's largest cities, while working as British trade envoy, and had stood to gain a £4-million payment in commission. The newspaper published an email from Andrew to Kazakh oligarch Kenges Rakishev, (who had allegedly brokered the sale of the his Berkshire mansion Sunninghill Park), and said that Rakishev had arranged meetings for the consortium. After initially saying the email was a forgery, Buckingham Palace sought to block its publication as a privacy breach.[132] The Palace denied the allegation that Andrew had acted as a "fixer" calling the article "untrue, defamatory and a breach of the editor's code of conduct".[132]
A former Foreign Office minister, MP Chris Bryant stated: "When I was at the Foreign Office it was very difficult to see in whose interests he [Andrew] was acting. He doesn't exactly add lustre to the Royal diadem".[132]
Arms sales
In March 2011 Kaye Stearman of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade told Channel 4 News that CAAT sees Andrew as part of a bigger problem: "He is the front man for UKTI. Our concerns are not just Prince Andrew, it's the whole UKTI set up. They see arms as just another commodity but it has completely disproportionate resources. At the London office of UKTI the arms sector has more staff than all the others put together. We are concerned that Prince Andrew is used to sell arms, and where you sell arms it is likely to be to despotic regimes. He is the cheerleader in chief for the arms industry, shaking hands and paving the way for the salesmen."[133]
In January 2014 Andrew took part in a delegation to Bahrain, a close ally of the United Kingdom. Andrew Smith, a spokesman for CAAT, said, "We are calling on Prince Andrew and the UK government to stop selling arms to Bahrain. By endorsing the Bahraini dictatorship Prince Andrew is giving his implicit support to their oppressive practices. When our government sells arms it is giving moral and practical support to an illegitimate and authoritarian regime and directly supporting their systematic crackdown on opposition groups. (...) We shouldn't allow our international image to be used as a PR tool for the violent and oppressive dictatorship in Bahrain."[134] Smith has also said, "The prince has consistently used his position to promote arms sales and boost some of the most unpleasant governments in the world, his arms sales haven't just given military support to corrupt and repressive regimes. They've lent those regimes political and international legitimacy."[135]
Allegations of government coverup
Official documents covering Andrew's business trips between 2001 and 2011 will not be released by the Foreign Office until 2065.[136] This is part of what has been claimed to be a concerted Government coverup to prevent Andrew's activities being publicly known, even when national security was potentially compromised.[137]
Promotion of Banque Havilland
In November 2020 and following reviews of emails, internal documents, and unreported regulatory filings as well as interviews with 10 former bank insiders, Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Andrew using his royal cachet and role as trade envoy for helping David Rowland and his private bank, Banque Havilland, with securing deals with clients around the world.[138] The Rowland family are among the investment advisers to Andrew,[139] and he was present for the official opening ceremony of their bank in July 2009.[140] It has been alleged that Banque Havilland sought to service dictators and kleptocrats.[141]
In 2021 Bloomberg News reported that a firm connected to David Rowland had been paying off Andrew's debts.[142] In November 2017 Andrew borrowed £250,000 from Banque Havilland, adding to an existing £1.25 million loan that had been "extended or increased 10 times" since 2015.[143] Documents showed that while "credibility of the applicant" had been questioned, he was given the loan in an attempt to "further business potential with the Royal Family".[143] 11 days later and in December 2017, £1.5 million was transferred from an account at Albany Reserves, which was controlled by the Rowland family, to Andrew's account at Banque Havilland, paying off the loan that was due in March 2018.[143]
Relationship with alleged Chinese spy
In December 2024 it was reported that Andrew had invited Chris Yang, a Chinese businessman who was initially given the name "H6" in legal documents, to events at royal residences. Yang was given permission by a royal aide, Dominic Hampshire, to act on Andrew's behalf when dealing with potential investors in China. Yang was barred from entry to the United Kingdom in 2023 due to alleged engagement in "covert and deceptive activity" on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. Andrew ceased all contact with Yang following government concerns.[144][145][146] According to a report by The Telegraph in 2025, Andrew was deemed a potential national security risk by UK intelligence agencies due to his repeated meetings and close relationship with Yang, with concerns dating back to 2021 that his vulnerability and access could be exploited, raising alarms at the highest levels of government.[147]
In 2025 it was reported that in 2018 in London and in 2018 and 2019 in Beijing Andrew had met with Cai Qi, who went on to become the first-ranked member of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and de facto chief of staff to CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping.[148] Cai had been suspected of receiving sensitive information from British nationals Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, though the charges against them were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in 2025.[148] The meeting in London was to welcome the Beijing delegation with then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Scottish former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, former Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan in attendance.[148] Andrew's subsequent meetings involved him expanding and launching his Pitch@Palace business initiative in China.[148]
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Finances
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Andrew received a £249,000 annuity from Queen Elizabeth II, which was cut by King Charles III in April 2023.[149][150] In the twelve-month period up to April 2004, he spent £325,000 on flights, and his trade missions as special representative for UKTI cost £75,000 in 2003.[72] The Sunday Times reported in July 2008 that for "the Duke of York's public role ... he last year received £436,000 to cover his expenses".[151] He has a Royal Navy pension of £20,000.[143]
In June 2019, Andrew arranged a private Buckingham Palace tour while the Queen was in residence for Jay Bloom and Michael Evers, businessmen from the U.S. cryptocurrency mining company Pegasus Group Holdings, which had agreed to pay his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson up to £1.4 million for her role as a "brand ambassador".[152] Bloom and Evers were driven into the Palace in Andrew's car from their Knightsbridge hotel and later attended his Pitch@Palace event at St James's Palace before dining that evening with Andrew, Ferguson, and their daughter Beatrice.[152] Ferguson was promoting Pegasus's plan to use thousands of solar power generators to mine Bitcoin in Arizona, though the project collapsed after acquiring only 615 of the planned 16,000 units and generating just $33,779 (£25,000) in cryptocurrency.[152] Ferguson first met Bloom in Las Vegas in 2018 and he and Evers regularly visited London in 2019, meeting the York family frequently.[152] In October 2019 Ferguson signed a contract via Alphabet Capital, a British company owned by Adrian Gleave, through which she was paid over £200,000 for Pegasus work.[152] Court documents showed Andrew also received £60,500 traced to Gleave's businesses, though neither explained the payments.[152]
Several months after Andrew's controversial 2019 Newsnight interview, his private office established the Urramoor Trust, which owned both Lincelles (established 2020)[153] and Urramoor Ltd (established 2013),[154] and according to The Times was set up to support his family. Lincelles was voluntarily wound up in 2022.[155] Andrew was described as a "settlor but not a beneficiary", and did not own either of the companies, though Companies House listed him and his private banker of 20 years Harry Keogh[a] as people with "significant control".[156]
In March 2022 it was reported that, on 15 November 2019, the wife of the jailed Turkish former politician İlhan İşbilen transferred £750,000 to Andrew in the belief that it would help her secure a passport.[157] He repaid the money 16 months later after being contacted by İşbilen's lawyers. The Telegraph reported that the money sent to Andrew's account had been described to the bankers "as a wedding gift" for his elder daughter, Princess Beatrice, though the court documents did not include any suggestions that Beatrice was aware of the transactions.[158] İşbilen alleges that a further £350,000 payment was made to Andrew through businessman Selman Turk, who İşbilen is suing for fraud. Turk had been awarded the People's Choice Award for his business Heyman AI at a Pitch@Palace event held at St James's Palace days before the £750,000 payment was made by İşbilen.[157][159] In October 2025 it was reported that in December 2019, Andrew received £60,500 from businessman Adrian Gleave, whose company Alphabet Capital Limited had also funneled money from Nebahat İşbilen to him and Ferguson.[160] Court documents showed that Alphabet Capital had made – and might continue making – substantial payments to Andrew, despite being listed as a dormant company with minimal turnover.[160] Gleave had links to SVS Securities, a firm shut down by regulators over pension mis-selling.[160]
Tarek Kaituni, a Libyan-born convicted gun smuggler, introduced Andrew to Selman Turk in May or June 2019 and held later meetings on at least two occasions.[161] Kaituni, for whom Andrew allegedly lobbied a British company, had reportedly given Princess Beatrice an £18,000 gold and diamond necklace for her 21st birthday in 2009, and was invited to Princess Eugenie's wedding in 2018.[161] Andrew also got "half" of £100,000 that Turk claimed was a payment to the businessman Adrian Gleave to fund a search for "finding yoghurt production facilities in America".[162]
In October 2025, The Guardian reported that Andrew was set to receive a one-off six-figure payment from King Charles III's private funds to help finance his move from Royal Lodge to a smaller property on the Sandringham Estate.[163] In addition, he would be granted an annual stipend worth several times his £20,000 naval pension.[163]
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Allegations of sexual abuse
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Jeffrey Epstein and related associations
Andrew was a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier who pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18 in 2008. Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein had been hosted by Andrew at his residence, Royal Lodge, ahead of a masked ball at Windsor Castle for Princess Beatrice's 18th birthday celebrations in 2006 and two months after a US arrest warrant had been issued for Epstein for the sexual assault of a minor.[164] Epstein was arrested by the police in Florida eight days after the event though Andrew denied having any knowledge about the arrest warrant issued in the US.[164] BBC News reported in March 2011 that the friendship was producing "a steady stream of criticism", and there were calls for him to step down from his role as trade envoy.[165] Andrew was also criticised in the media after his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, disclosed that he helped arrange for Epstein to pay off £15,000 of her debts.[166][167] Andrew had been photographed in December 2010 strolling with Epstein in Central Park during a visit to New York City.[168] In July 2011 Andrew's role as trade envoy was terminated because of escalating controversy over his associations, especially with Epstein.[165][169]
On 30 December 2014 a court filing in Florida by the lawyers Bradley J. Edwards and Paul G. Cassell alleged that Andrew was one of several prominent figures, including lawyer Alan Dershowitz and "a former prime minister",[170] to have participated in sexual activities with a minor later identified as Virginia Giuffre (then known by her maiden name, Virginia Roberts),[171] who was allegedly trafficked by Epstein.[172] An affidavit from Giuffre was included in an earlier lawsuit from 2008 accusing the US Justice Department of violating the Crime Victims' Rights Act during Epstein's first criminal case by not allowing several of his victims to challenge his plea deal; Andrew was otherwise not a party to the lawsuit.[173]
In January 2015 there was renewed media and public pressure for Buckingham Palace to explain Andrew's connection with Epstein.[174] Buckingham Palace stated that "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue", and later repeated the denial.[175][176] Requests from Giuffre's lawyers for a statement from Andrew about the allegations, under oath, were returned unanswered.[177][178]
Giuffre said that she had sex with Andrew on three occasions, including a trip to London in 2001 when she was 17,[179] and later in New York and on Little Saint James in the US Virgin Islands during an orgy.[168][180] She alleged Epstein paid her $15,000 after she had sex with Andrew in London.[179] Flight logs show Andrew and Giuffre were in the places she alleged their meetings took place.[181][182] Andrew and Giuffre were also photographed together with his arm around her waist, with an Epstein associate, Maxwell, in the background,[183] though Andrew's supporters have repeatedly said the photo is fake and edited.[184] Giuffre stated that she was pressured to have sex with Andrew and "wouldn't have dared object" as Epstein, through contacts, could have her "killed or abducted".[131]
On 7 April 2015 Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that the "sex allegations made against Andrew in court papers filed in Florida must be struck from the public record".[185][186] Marra made no ruling as to whether claims by Giuffre are true or false, specifically stating that she may later give evidence when the case comes to court.[187]
Juan "John" Alessi, who was Epstein's butler, stated in a deposition he filed for Giuffre's 2016 defamation case against Maxwell that Andrew's hitherto unremarked visits to the Epstein house in Palm Beach were more frequent than previously thought. He maintained that Andrew "spent weeks with us" and received "daily massages".[188]
In August 2019, court documents associated with a defamation case between Giuffre and Maxwell revealed that a second girl, Johanna Sjoberg, gave evidence alleging that Andrew had placed his hand on her breast while in Epstein's mansion posing for a photo with his Spitting Image puppet.[189] Later that month, Andrew released a statement that said, "At no stage during the limited time I spent with [Epstein] did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction", though he expressed regret for meeting him in 2010 after Epstein had already pleaded guilty to sex crimes for the first time.[190] At the end of August 2019 The New Republic published a September 2013 email exchange between John Brockman and Evgeny Morozov, in which Brockman mentioned seeing a British man nicknamed "Andy" receive a foot massage from two Russian women at Epstein's New York residence during his last visit to the mansion in 2010, and had realised "that the recipient of Irina's foot massage was His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York".[191]
In July 2020 Caroline Kaufman, an alleged victim of Epstein, said in a federal lawsuit that she had seen Andrew at Epstein's New York mansion in December 2010.[192] In November 2021 Lawrence Visoski, Epstein's pilot, testified in court during Maxwell's trial that Andrew flew in Epstein's private plane along with other prominent individuals, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and John Glenn. Visoski stated he did not notice any sexual activity or wrongdoing on the plane.[193] Similarly, Andrew's name was recorded on 12 May 2001 by Epstein's pilot David Rodgers in his logbook, and he testified that Andrew flew three times with Epstein and Giuffre in 2001.[194] The following month a picture of Epstein and Maxwell, sitting at a cabin on the Queen's Balmoral estate, around 1999, at the invitation of Andrew, was shown to the jury to establish their status as partners.[195]
On 5 January 2022 Giuffre's former boyfriend, Anthony Figueroa, said on Good Morning Britain that Giuffre told him Epstein would take her to meet Andrew. He alleged the meeting had taken place in London.[196] In a court filing, Andrew's lawyers had previously referred to a statement by Figueroa's sister, Crystal Figueroa, who alleged that in her bid to find victims for Epstein, Giuffre had asked her, "Do you know any girls who are kind of slutty?"[197] The same month, Carolyn Andriano, who as a 14-year-old was introduced by Giuffre to Maxwell and Epstein and was a prosecution witness in Maxwell's trial, said in an interview with the Daily Mail that then 17-year-old Giuffre told her in 2001 that she had sex with Andrew. She stated, "And [Giuffre] said, 'I got to sleep with him'. She didn't seem upset about it. She thought it was pretty cool."[198]
In an ITV documentary a former royal protection officer, Paul Page, who was convicted and given a six-year sentence following a £3 million property investment scam in 2009,[199][200] recounted Maxwell's frequent visits to Buckingham Palace, and suggested the two might have had an intimate relationship,[201] while Lady Victoria Hervey added that Andrew was present at social occasions held by Maxwell.[202] His name and contact numbers for Buckingham Palace, Sunninghill Park, Wood Farm and Balmoral also appeared in Maxwell and Epstein's 'Little Black Book', a list of contacts of the duo's powerful and famous friends.[202] In February 2022 The Daily Telegraph published a photograph of Andrew along with Maxwell giving a tour of Buckingham Palace to his guests Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey, with a member of the tour party describing Maxwell as "the one who led us into Buckingham Palace".[203]
In October 2022 Maxwell was interviewed by a documentary filmmaker while serving her sentence in prison, and when asked about her relationship with Andrew, Maxwell stated that she felt "bad" for him but accepted their "friendship could not survive my conviction. He is paying such a price for the association. I consider him a dear friend. I care about him."[204] She also stated that she now believed the photograph showing her together with Andrew and Giuffre was not "a true image", and added that in an email to her lawyer in 2015 she was trying to confirm that she recognised her own house, but the whole image cannot be authentic as "the original has never been produced".[204] In another interview from prison, she said the photo was "a fake ... there's never been an original and further there is no photograph. I've only ever seen a photocopy of it."[205] Following the allegations, The Mail on Sunday, which first published the photograph in 2011, was contacted by the photographer Michael Thomas who took 39 copies of the image, both front and back. The back of the photo has a time stamp showing it was developed on 13 March 2001 – three days after Andrew allegedly engaged in sexual activity with Giuffre – and it was printed at a one-hour photo lab at Walgreens in Florida, near Giuffre's former home.[206]
Giuffre had said that on the first night she allegedly had sex with Andrew they got into the bath where "he started licking my toes, between my toes, the arches of my feet" before they went into the bedroom and had sex.[207] She repeated this statement in a 2019 BBC interview.[207] She described the bathroom in her unpublished memoir, stating "It was a beige marble tiled floor with a porcelain Victorian-style bathtub in the middle of the room."[207] In January 2023, Maxwell's brother Ian Maxwell disputed Giuffre's account by releasing photos showing his acquaintances sitting in the bathtub where the incident allegedly took place.[207] The photos were originally reserved as a defence for Maxwell's legal team if Giuffre was asked to testify.[207] Ian Maxwell said the photos "show conclusively that the bath is too small for any sort of sex frolicking. There is no 'Victorian bath', as Giuffre had claimed, which is proved both by the attached plan of the bathroom and the photos themselves."[207]
In January 2024 a series of documents related to Epstein were released by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, including a motion from 2015 by two women which described Andrew having sexual relations with one of them – speculated to be Giuffre – at Maxwell's flat in London, in New York, and on Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands "in an orgy with numerous other underaged girls".[208] In a separate document, Maxwell recalled Andrew visiting Epstein's private island only once, adding there were no girls or women there other than the staff.[208] She also stated that she had "no recollection" as to whether she introduced Andrew to Giuffre.[209] In another unsealed document, Juan Alessi, who worked at Epstein's Palm Beach residence, stated under oath that Andrew "spent weeks with us" and had "daily massages".[210] Another deposition contained references to Johanna Sjoberg's statement that Andrew had groped her breast while she was sitting on his lap.[208][211] The Metropolitan Police announced that they would not be launching an investigation into the allegations but would assess "new and relevant" information should any come to light.[209]
In a 2025 interview with the US Department of Justice, Maxwell said she had not introduced Andrew to Epstein and described Giuffre's allegations as "rubbish".[212] She further said the photograph showing her with Andrew was "literally a fake". Maxwell stated she was not present at the time of the alleged incident and questioned the physical plausibility of the account.[213] Her remarks were published in DOJ transcripts.[214] In September of the same year, newly released documents turned over by the Epstein estate to the House Oversight Committee revealed that on 12 May 2000, Andrew travelled with Epstein and Maxwell on a private jet from Teterboro, New Jersey, to West Palm Beach, Florida.[215] He had officially flown on 11 May 2000 from London to New York to attend a reception for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children before returning to the UK on 15 May.[215] In the documents, a client named Andrew appeared to have received massages in February and May 2000 paid for with $200 cheques.[215][216]
On 18 October 2025, it was alleged that Andrew had instructed one of his taxpayer-funded personal protection officers to investigate Giuffre – including obtaining her date of birth and US Social Security number – in an apparent attempt to "dig up dirt" on her, shortly before the widely circulated photograph of them together came to light.[217] The Metropolitan Police later announced they were assessing the alleged misuse of police resources and the claim that Andrew "pressured" the officer to "dig up dirt" on Giuffre.[218][219]
Giuffre's posthumous memoir, Nobody's Girl, was published in October 2025 and described her alleged encounters with Andrew.[220] In it, she claimed that, in addition to his attempts to avoid being served papers related to her civil case against him, Andrew's team had tried "to hire internet trolls to hassle me".[221] Giuffre stated that her sexual encounter with him on 10 March 2001 was the first of three occasions where she was forced to have sex with him.[222]
On 30 October 2025, upon announcement of the removal of Andrew's titles, Buckingham Palace stated, "These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him. Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse."[223]
In November 2025, the United States House Oversight Committee requested that Andrew testify to help them identify any of Epstein's co-conspirators and enablers, due to "well-documented allegations against you, along with your long-standing friendship with Mr. Epstein".[224]
Newsnight interview
In November 2019 the BBC's Newsnight arranged an interview between Andrew and the presenter Emily Maitlis in which he recounted his friendship with Epstein for the first time.[225] In the interview Andrew says he met Epstein in 1999 through Maxwell; this contradicts comments made by Andrew's private secretary in 2011, who said the two met in "the early 1990s".[226] He also said he did not regret his friendship with Epstein, saying "the people that I met and the opportunities that I was given to learn either by him or because of him were actually very useful".[227]
In the interview, Andrew denied having sex with Giuffre on 10 March 2001, as she had accused, because he had been at home with his daughters after attending a party at a PizzaExpress branch in Woking with his elder daughter, Beatrice.[228][229] Andrew also added that Giuffre's claims about dancing with him at Tramp while he was sweaty were false due to him temporarily losing the ability to sweat after an "adrenaline overdose" during the Falklands War.[230][231] According to physicians consulted by The Times, an adrenaline overdose typically causes excessive sweating in humans.[232] He also said that he does not drink,[233] despite Giuffre's account of him providing alcohol for them both.[234] Accounts from other people have supported his statement that he does not drink.[235]
Andrew said that he had stayed in Epstein's mansion for three days in 2010, after Epstein's conviction for sex offences against a minor, describing the location as "a convenient place to stay". He said that he met Epstein for the sole purpose of breaking off any future relationship with him.[236] He also said that he would be willing to testify under oath regarding his associations with Epstein.[227] A series of emails published as part of a civil case in 2023 included snippets showing Andrew, Epstein and Jes Staley exchanging emails, which suggested that Andrew was in contact with Epstein on several occasions in 2010.[237] Another series of emails published in court documents from a different civil case showed that in February 2011 Epstein was in contact with a "member of the British Royal Family", believed to be Andrew.[238] In October 2025, The Mail on Sunday and The Sun on Sunday published an email from Andrew to Epstein, sent in February 2011 shortly after the photograph of Andrew with Giuffre was made public. In it, Andrew wrote: "We are in this together and will have to rise above it. Otherwise keep in close touch and we'll play some more soon!!!!"[239]
The interview was believed by Maitlis and Newsnight to have been approved by the Queen,[240] although "palace insiders" speaking to The Sunday Telegraph disputed this.[241] One of Andrew's official advisors resigned just prior to the interview being aired.[242] Although Andrew was pleased with the outcome of the interview – reportedly giving Maitlis and the Newsnight team a tour of Buckingham Palace[243] – it received negative reactions from both the media and the public, both in and outside of the UK. The interview was described as a "car crash", "nuclear explosion level bad",[244][245] and the worst public relations crisis for the royal family since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Experts and those with ties to Buckingham Palace said that the interview, its fallout and the abrupt suspension of Andrew's royal duties were unprecedented.[246]
Lawsuit
In August 2021 Giuffre sued Andrew in the federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, accusing him of "sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress". The lawsuit was filed under New York's Child Victims Act, legislation extending the statute of limitations where the plaintiff had been under 18 at the time, 17 in Giuffre's case.[247] On 29 October 2021 Andrew's lawyers filed a response, stating that their client "unequivocally denies Giuffre's false allegations".[248][249] On 12 January 2022 Judge Kaplan rejected Andrew's attempts to dismiss the case, allowing the sexual abuse lawsuit to proceed.[250][251] In February, the case was settled out of court, with Andrew making a donation to Giuffre's charity for victims of abuse, without any admission of liability.[252] The amount had not been disclosed as of 2025[update], but was widely reported to have been £12m.[253] Criminal proceedings in the United States over Giuffre's claims remained possible.[254]
Repercussions
On 20 November 2019, Buckingham Palace announced that Andrew was suspending his public duties "for the foreseeable future". The decision, made with the consent of the Queen, was accompanied by the insistence that Andrew sympathise with Epstein's victims.[255] Other working royals took over his commitments in the short term.[256] On 24 November the palace confirmed that Andrew was to step down from all 230 of his patronages, although he expressed a wish to have some sort of public role at some future time.[257]
On 16 January 2020 it was reported that the Home Office was recommending "a major downgrade of security" for Andrew, which would put an end to "his round-the-clock armed police protection".[258] On 28 January 2020 the American lawyer Geoffrey Berman stated that Andrew had provided "zero co-operation" with federal prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the ongoing investigations, despite his initial promise in the Newsnight interview when he said he was willing to help the authorities.[259] Sources close to Andrew said that he "hasn't been approached" by US authorities and investigators,[260] and his legal team announced that he had offered to be a witness "on at least three occasions" but had been refused by the Department of Justice.[261] The US authorities responded to the claim and denied being approached by Andrew for an interview and labelled his statements as a way "to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate".[262] Spencer Kuvin, who represented nine of Epstein's victims, said Andrew could be arrested if he ever returns to the United States.[263]
In March 2020 Andrew hired Mark Gallagher, a crisis-management expert who had helped high-profile clients falsely accused by Operation Midland.[264] In April 2020 it was reported that the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy would not be played any more, after all activities carried out by the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust were stopped.[265] In May 2020 it was announced that Andrew would permanently resign from all public roles over his Epstein ties.[266]
In June 2020 it became known that Andrew is a person of interest in a criminal investigation in the United States, and that U.S. prosecutors had filed a mutual legal assistance request to British authorities, seeking to question Andrew.[267][268][269] Following the arrest of Maxwell in July 2020, Andrew cancelled a planned trip to Spain, reportedly due to fears that he might be arrested and extradited to the United States.[270] In the 2019 BBC interview, Andrew told Newsnight his association with Epstein derived from his long-standing friendship with Maxwell, who was later convicted of colluding in Epstein's sexual abuse.[271]
At least two trespassing incidents at his Windsor residence were reported in early 2021. In December he was verbally abused by a woman as he was driving.[272]
2022–2024
In January 2022 Andrew's social media accounts were deleted, his page on the royal family's website was rewritten in the past tense and his military affiliations and patronages were removed to put an emphasis on his departure from public life.[273] He also stopped using the style His Royal Highness (HRH), though it was not formally removed.[99] In the same month, York Racecourse announced that it would rename the Duke of York Stakes,[274] and Prince Andrew High School in Nova Scotia, which had announced two years earlier that it was considering a name change,[275] stated that it would have a new name at the next academic year.[276] In February 2022 Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly decided not to fly a union flag for Andrew's birthday.[277] In the same month, the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council announced that they would hold a debate in June 2022 regarding a motion to rename Prince Andrew Way in Carrickfergus.[278] On 27 April 2022 York City Council unanimously voted to remove Andrew's Freedom of the City.[279] Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, said Andrew was the "first to ever have their freedom removed".[280] In June 2022 Maskell introduced a 'Removal of Titles' private members bill in the House of Commons.[281] The bill would have enabled people considered unworthy to be stripped of aristocratic titles by the monarch or a committee of Parliament.[282][281]
In March 2022 Andrew made his first official appearance in months, helping the Queen to walk into Westminster Abbey for a memorial service for his father, the Duke of Edinburgh.[283] There was a mixed reaction by commentators to his presence, with some saying that it would send the wrong message to victims of sexual abuse "about how powerful men are able to absolve themselves from their conduct" and others arguing that his appearance was required as "a son, in memory of his father".[284]
In June 2022 Andrew took part in private aspects of the Garter Day ceremony, including lunch and investiture of new members, but was excluded from the public procession following an intervention by his brother Charles and his nephew William that banned him from appearing anywhere the public could see him.[285]
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, Andrew appeared in civilian clothing at various ceremonial events.[286] As he walked behind his mother's coffin in a funeral procession in Edinburgh on 12 September, a 22-year-old man shouted "Andrew, you're a sick old man"; the heckler was arrested and charged with committing a breach of the peace,[287] but the procurator fiscal later dropped charges against the man after an unspecified alternative to prosecution was agreed to.[288]
Andrew wore military uniform for a 15-minute vigil by the Queen's coffin at Westminster Hall on 16 September.[289]
In October 2022 it was reported that Andrew no longer received any government funding.[290] In November 2022 it was reported that he was set to lose his police protection as he was no longer expected to carry out public duties in accordance with King Charles's wishes.[291] In December 2022 The Telegraph reported that Andrew had written to the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police to complain about the situation.[292] His armed personal protection officers were expected to be replaced by private security guards, who are likely to be paid for by Charles, at an estimated cost of up to £3 million a year.[292] In January 2023 it was reported that he could no longer use his suite of rooms at Buckingham Palace.[293] In August 2024 The Telegraph reported that King Charles would be withdrawing funds for Andrew's security by the end of October, which would require him to pay for future security operations at his Royal Lodge home.[294]
2025
On 30 October 2025, Buckingham Palace announced that Charles III had begun "a formal process" to remove Andrew's style, titles, and honours. On the same day, Andrew was removed from the Roll of the Peerage; this does not revoke his peerages but means they will not be used in official contexts.[295][296] On 3 November, letters patent were issued removing his style of "Royal Highness" and title "prince". As a result, he now uses the family surname of Mountbatten-Windsor.[297]
Andrew's appointments to the Royal Victorian Order and Order of the Garter will be or have already been removed,[298] and his banner was removed from St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, the chapel of the Order of the Garter.[299]
In November 2025, Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed that Andrew's honorary rank of vice-admiral, which he retained after relinquishing other military titles in 2022, would be removed, following direction from Charles III.[300][301] However, the King allowed his brother to keep his South Atlantic Medal with rosette, which he earned for service in the 1982 Falklands War.[302]
Andrew's profile was removed from the royal website.[303]
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Allegations regarding behaviour
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Racist language
Rohan Silva, a former Downing Street aide, claimed that, when they met in 2012, Andrew had commented, "Well, if you'll pardon the expression, that really is the nigger in the woodpile."[304] The former home secretary Jacqui Smith also claims that he made a racist comment about Arabs during a state dinner for the Saudi royal family in 2007.[305][306] Buckingham Palace denied that Andrew had used racist language on either occasion.[307]
Treatment of others
During his four-day Southern California tour in 1984, Andrew squirted paint onto American and British journalists and photographers who were reporting on the tour, after which he told Los Angeles county supervisor Kenneth Hahn, "I enjoyed that."[308] The incident damaged the clothes and equipment of reporters and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner submitted a $1,200 bill to the British consulate asking for financial compensation.[308]
The Guardian wrote in 2022, "his brusque manner with servants is well-documented. A senior footman once told a reporter who worked undercover at Buckingham Palace that on waking Andrew "the response can easily be 'fuck off' as 'good morning'".[309] Former royal protection officer Paul Page said, in an ITV documentary, that Andrew maintained a collection of "50 or 60 stuffed toys" and if they "weren't put back in the right order by the maids, he would shout and scream and become verbally abusive".[310] Page later stated in the documentary Prince Andrew: Banished that different women would visit Andrew every day, and when one was denied entry into his residence by the security Andrew allegedly called one of the officers a "fat, lardy cunt" over the phone. Page, who was sentenced to jail for fraud in a property scheme, said of Andrew: "He's a bully."[311]
Andrew's former maid, Charlotte Briggs, also recalled setting up the teddy bears on his bed and told The Sun that when she was bitten by his Norfolk Terrier in 1996 he only laughed and "wasn't bothered".[312][313] She said that she was reduced to tears by Andrew for not properly closing the heavy curtains in his office and added that his behaviour was in contrast to that of his brothers Charles and Edward who "weren't anything like him" and his father Philip whom she described as "so nice and gentlemanly".[312]
Emma Gruenbaum, a massage therapist, told The Sun that Andrew regularly overstepped the mark, making creepy sexual comments when she came to give him a massage. Gruenbaum said he talked continually about sex during the first massage and wanted to know when she last had sex. Gruenbaum said Andrew arranged regular massages for roughly two months, and she believed requests for massages stopped when he realised he would not get more.[314]
In 2025, Andrew Lownie claimed in his book Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York that Andrew reprimanded a palace employee for not using the proper name and title when referring to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother by calling him a "fucking imbecile".[315] Another employee recounted how he would "explode one minute and then try to take it back the next".[316]
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Titles, styles, honours and arms
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Titles and styles
As a son of the reigning monarch, he was styled at birth as "His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew".[317] On 23 July 1986, the day of his wedding, he was created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, and Baron Killyleagh, and assumed the style "His Royal Highness The Duke of York". He was occasionally known as Earl of Inverness in Scotland and Baron Killyleagh in Northern Ireland.[317][318][319]
In 2019, in light of Andrew's friendship with the convicted sex offender Epstein, residents of Inverness started a campaign to strip him of his earldom, saying that "it is inappropriate that Prince Andrew is associated with our beautiful city".[320] In 2022, there was a renewed petition in Inverness, and the residents of Killyleagh felt that he should have his barony removed.[321][322] Rachael Maskell, the Labour Co-op MP for York Central, stated that she would look for ways to make Andrew give up his dukedom if he did not voluntarily relinquish it; the City of York Council voted unanimously to remove his honorary freedom of the city, and several York councillors called for Andrew to lose the title Duke of York.[323][324][325]
In January 2022, Andrew ceased using the style "Royal Highness" in a public capacity, but was still permitted to use it in a private capacity.[99][326][100]
On 17 October 2025, following discussions with Charles III, Andrew agreed to cease using his peerages and honours, including his dukedom and knighthoods as a Royal Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.[327][328][329] His banner of arms, which had hung in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle since 2006 to signify his membership of the Order of the Garter, was removed.[330]
On 30 October, Buckingham Palace announced that Charles III had started a "formal process" to remove his brother's style, titles, and honours.[60] Andrew's name was removed from the Roll of the Peerage the same day.[331][297] Although this does not revoke his peerages,[295] it means he was no longer entitled to any place in the orders of precedence derived from them, and will cease to be addressed or referred to by any title derived from his peerages in official documents.[296] Letters patent were issued on 3 November removing the style "Royal Highness" and title "Prince" from Andrew.[297] While the announcements of 30 October and 3 November spelt the surname "Mountbatten Windsor", on 12 November it was reported it would be "Mountbatten-Windsor" with a hyphen, in conformity with the 1960 decree establishing the surname.[332]
As of 2025[update], Andrew remains eighth in the line of succession to the British throne.[333] He can only be removed from the line of succession by an Act of Parliament, with the agreement of all Commonwealth realms.[295]
Naval ranks
1979–1981: Midshipman, Britannia Royal Naval College, HMS Seahawk- 1981–1984: Sub Lieutenant, Pilot, 820 NAS on HMS Invincible
- 1984–1992: Lieutenant, Pilot, 815 NAS on HMS Brazen; Helicopter Warfare Instructor, 702 NAS at RNAS Culdrose; Flight Commander, 829 NAS on HMS Campbeltown
- 1992–1999: Lieutenant Commander, Captain, HMS Cottesmore; Senior Pilot, 815 NAS at RNAS Portland; Directorate of Naval Operations, Ministry of Defence
- 1999–2005: Commander, Diplomacy Section of the Naval Staff.[13] Released from the active list in 2001.[26]
- 2005–2010: Honorary Captain[27]
- 2010–2015: Rear Admiral[28]
- 2015: Vice Admiral[29]
Honours and former honours
Commonwealth
21 February 2011: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)[334]
- 2 June 2003 – 21 February 2011: Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)[335][336]
- 19 December 1979 – 2 June 2003: Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO)[337][338]
23 April 2006: Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (KG)[338]
2015: Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu[338]
1977: Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal[338]
1982: South Atlantic Medal, with Rosette
2002: Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal[338]
2012: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal[338]
2022: Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal[339]
2016: Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with two bars
1990: New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal[338]
2000: Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD)[340][338] (with the first clasp)
2005: Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan[341]
Foreign
1988: Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav[338]
2010: Collar of the Order of the Federation[342]
2015: Sash of the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle[343]
2017: Order of Isabella the Catholic[344]
Appointments
- 1 February 1984 – 13 January 2022: Personal aide-de-camp to the Queen[338]
- 2002–2022: Grand Master of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots (called the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators until 2014)[345]
- 2007: Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
- 2012: Royal Bencher, Lincoln's Inn[338]
- 2012: Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights[338][346]
- 5 May 2013: Royal Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)[338][347]
- Andrew's election to the Royal Society in 2013 prompted criticism from various British scientists due to his lack of scientific background, with some stating he had only a secondary school level of education.[348] In an op-ed in The Independent, the pharmacologist and Fellow of the Royal Society David Colquhoun wrote, in references to Andrew's qualifications, that "if I wanted a tip for the winner of the 14.30 at Newmarket, I'd ask a royal. For most other questions, I wouldn't."[348][349]
- 20 February 2015 – 13 January 2022: Grand President of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League[350][351][352]
- 13 July 2015 – 21 November 2019: Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield[91][353]
- 20 April 2016: Honorary Fellow of the Society of Light and Lighting (Hon. FSLL)[354]
- 1 May 2018 – November 2019: Honorary Fellow of Hughes Hall, Cambridge[92][355]
- Member of the Honourable Artillery Company[356]
Freedom of the City
- 23 February 1987 – 27 April 2022: Freedom of the City of York[279]
- 2012: Freedom of the City of London[338]
Former honorary military appointments
In 2019, Andrew's military affiliations were suspended and on 13 January 2022 they were formally returned to Queen Elizabeth II.[99]
Canada
Colonel-in-Chief of The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC)[357]- Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada[357]
- Colonel-in-Chief of the Princess Louise Fusiliers[357]
- Colonel-in-Chief of the Canadian Airborne Regiment (disbanded)
New Zealand
Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment[357]
United Kingdom
Colonel of the Grenadier Guards[358]- Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment)[357]
- Colonel-in-Chief of the Small Arms School Corps[357][359]
- Colonel-in-Chief of the Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot)[357]
- Colonel-in-Chief of the Staffordshire Regiment[360] (disbanded)
- Colonel-in-Chief of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's)[357][359] (disbanded)
- Deputy Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeth's Own)[99]
- Royal Colonel of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland[357][359]
Honorary Air Commodore, Royal Air Force Lossiemouth[357]- Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm[357]
- Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps[357]
Arms
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Issue
Ancestry
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Depictions
Andrew was portrayed by Rufus Sewell in the 2024 Netflix drama film Scoop, which relates to the 2019 BBC Newsnight interview "Prince Andrew & the Epstein Scandal".[364]
He was portrayed by Michael Sheen in the 2024 three-part BBC drama series A Very Royal Scandal about the same event.[365]
Andrew was portrayed by Tom Byrne in the fourth season and by James Murray in the final two seasons of Netflix's The Crown.[366][367]
References
Bibliography
External links
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