In 2007, Prince Andrew was at the height of his powers and global reach. Carrying out hundreds of engagements a year in his role as UK trade ambassador, His Royal Highness The Duke of York regularly rubbed shoulders with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The position, which the then prince held from 2001-2011, was unpaid, but he had the support of civil servants and taxpayer funding for his overseas trips. Peter Mandelson, then trade secretary, had pushed for the prince to be appointed. Insiders believed Andrew’s royal status would gain him access to autocratic regimes and open doors otherwise closed to British businesses.
By October 2007 in an overcast west London, it was a rather less glamourous outing for the globetrotting prince. I was invited with a camera crew to follow Andrew on a visit around the headquarters of Innocent Smoothies, and to afterwards interview him at Buckingham Palace in order to showcase his role promoting British firms abroad.
The then-prince did a tour of the company’s office, which had a cutting-edge look at the time; all fake grass as carpet and wooden shed meeting rooms. As part of a long-running campaign the firm invited volunteers to knit little beanie hats for its juice bottles, with a percentage of profits going to charities supporting older people. All the stops were pushed out for the royal visit. Employees even presented the prince with a personalised gold-coloured bottle topped with a tiny beanie knitted in the red, blue and gold colours of his crest.
He was invited to meet representatives of the volunteers, two older ladies who could knit faster than the speed of light. A brief chat was followed by 86-year-old Margaret Keith from Hounslow presenting Andrew with a man-sized electric blue beanie for him to wear. He accepted with charm and an easy laugh. Mischievously, I suggested he try it on for the cameras, drawing stern glances of reproval from his civil service handlers, rightly concerned such TV pictures would make HRH look daft.
At Buckingham Palace we waited in a dining room while Andrew got ready for the interview. The table was laid with such precision I looked around fruitlessly for the ruler which must have measured the distance between gold-rimmed plates and crystal glasses.
We were taken up to the prince’s personal apartment, which appeared as if it had been decorated in the mid-1980s with Laura Ashley-style chintz, frilly curtain tiebacks, pelmets and tassels. A selection of collectors’ Steiff teddies stood in height order, from over five feet tall all the way down to palm-sized. Elsewhere the eyes of dozens of stuffed toy bears followed you around the room.
Camera rolling, I asked about his experience representing the UK abroad and the convening power of his role. Unfamiliar with TV reporting, at one stage I stumbled over my words during a question about business and international finance. Assuming it was the subject not the technology I was struggling with, he stopped the interview to prince-splain where I had gone wrong. Perhaps he meant it kindly; nonetheless it was irritating.
We were limited to a couple of questions. Possibly the handlers were worried he might say too much. Keeping Andrew in check was certainly the experience of people in government, even before the Epstein files emerged. “I’ve been at business engagement events with him when he was envoy,” one former minister told The i Paper. “He was always plausible for seven minutes. You never wanted to get to the eighth.”
Government insiders from this period say Andrew was widely regarded as a liability, both because of his personality and the way he performed the role. “He would turn up, do a brief meeting and then vanish to the golf course,” a source said. “No one seemed able to check him.”
Now MPs are kicking themselves that this credibility – masked by the easy smile which charmed both pensioner Margaret Keith and foreign sheikhs – went unchecked for so long.
The release of US Department of Justice files now appear to indicate Andrew advocated for Jeffrey Epstein, by then convicted as a paedophile, on a visit with the late Queen Elizabeth II to the United Arab Emirates in 2010. They also indicate he had shared information acquired in the course of his trade envoy role with the disgraced financier and his associates. Andrew has denied wrongdoing in the past.
Andrew stepped down as envoy in 2011, a year into the new coalition government. According to a senior source in that administration, civil servants warned ministers not to have much to do with Andrew, concerned about his judgment after he hosted the son-in-law of the Tunisian dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Buckingham Palace just months before he was deposed. There were also concerns about Andrew’s “freeloading,” including allegedly charging the taxpayer for whole floors of hotels for his entourage, the source said. However, there was confusion over how to ask him to step aside.
“There was an understanding that because it was royalty, it wasn’t just an administrative decision to get rid of him,” the source said. “This was an era where we were pretty deferential to the Palace. I do think everything is now changed and it couldn’t happen again.”
On Monday the BBC reported allegations from two former civil servants that Andrew had charged massages to his taxpayer-funded expenses, the latest in a long line of accusations. Parliamentarians are now pondering several questions: how he got away with this behaviour for so long, whether the age of deference is finally over and how to stop anything like this ever happening again.
An idea being quietly considered by the Government has come from Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who told The i Paper he’s suggested “a joint select committee across parties to consider the way in which the state has been brought in to allegations of wrongdoing by Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and to ask what mechanism of supervision we should look at in the future”. Mandelson was arrested on Monday night on suspicion of misconduct in a public office; he has denied any wrongdoing.
King Charles III stripped Andrew of his remaining titles – including “prince” – in September but the former Duke of York is still eighth in line to the throne. Already the Government has indicated it will consider introducing legislation to strip him from the succession once the police have finished their investigation. After being arrested and held for 11 hours on Friday for questioning, he was released without charge.
This has already alarmed some MPs who think No 10 has jumped too early as justice is yet run its course. “I’m worried that we are lighting our torches and sharpening our pitchforks like a lynch mob, all for someone who may have chronically bad judgement but has not yet been convicted of anything,” a Conservative MP told The i Paper on Monday.
This legal waiting game also leaves the Liberal Democrats in a tricky position. Having jumped up and down saying they would use their control of the Parliamentary timetable to hold a debate on Andrew on Tuesday, they were then forced to consider what anyone could possibly say without prejudicing any future legal proceedings.
If and when Parliament gets its debate, it will be hard listening for the man who once charmed princes and pensioners alike. The shame in wearing an electric blue beanie hat will fade by comparison.
Your next read
square TESSA DUNLOPIn the shadow of Andrew, Prince Harry’s exile just became more shameful
square JENNIE BONDWilliam is seething with anger – and he wants you to know it
square MARK WALLACEWar with Russia is upon us, whether we accept it or not
square STEFANO HATFIELDThis is what teachers want parents to know about SEND reform
Hence then, the article about i interviewed andrew he prince splained amid his absurd teddies was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( I interviewed Andrew. He ‘prince-splained’ amid his absurd teddies )
Also on site :
- Canaan Inc. Acquires Cipher Mining's Interest in Multiple Operational Mining Projects Totaling ~4.4 EH/s in West Texas
- Pedestrian killed on 101 Freeway in Calabasas-Agoura Hills area
- Certis and FieldAI Form Strategic Partnership to Deploy Autonomous Robotics in Real-World Security Operations