A biography crackles with scandals

Prince Andrew book seals his fate for any return

This searing biography of Prince Andrew crackles with scandals about sex and money on almost every page, two subjects that have always caused problems for the royals, the BBC reported.

Andrew Lownie's book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, is an unrelentingly unflattering portrait of Prince Andrew. It depicts him as arrogant, self-seeking and in denial about his links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The author's best-selling biographies have a habit of changing the reputation of famous figures, such as establishing the Nazi intrigues around the Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII.

Although in the case of Entitled, he hasn't so much cemented Prince Andrew's reputation, as put it in concrete boots and thrown it in the river. It is hard to see how he might come back from this.

This account, more than 450 pages, is said to have taken four years to research, involving hundreds of interviews. And for anyone thinking they have heard much of this story before, it is the extra and sometimes unexpected, throwaway details that will make this a fascinating read.

Like comedian Billy Connolly and Sir Elton John being at Prince Andrew's stag night. Or film maker Woody Allen being at the same dinner with Prince Andrew at Epstein's house in Manhattan.

This detail tallies with a piece in the New York Times this week that quotes a birthday greeting written by Allen to Epstein, which references "even royalty" being at one of Epstein's dinners.

To rapidly lose some mid-life weight, when he was going out with a younger woman, the book records that Prince Andrew lived on a crash diet of "stewed prunes for breakfast, raw vegetables for lunch and soup for supper".

About their academic ability, the book says that Prince Andrew and his former wife Sarah Ferguson passed two O-levels at their respective expensive private schools. Andrew had to re-take exams the following year before going on to take A-levels.

Now in disgrace, Prince Andrew is claimed to spend his time, when not riding or golfing, cooped up watching aviation videos and reading thrillers, with The Talented Mr Ripley said to be his favourite. It is about a con-man taking on the identity of a wealthy playboy.

There are some more gentle anecdotes about him, such as when he was a helicopter pilot and ferried a group of soldiers from a rifle range and decided to put down on the Sandringham estate.

Queen Elizabeth II, who was in residence, was said to have looked at the guns being toted by these unexpected arrivals. "You can put those in there if you like," she said, pointing to an umbrella stand.

But the biography is much more crowded with anecdotes about his rudeness and his acute lack of self awareness, not to mention a prodigious number of quick-fire affairs.

It is claimed he swore at and insulted staff, bawling someone out as an "imbecile" for not using the Queen Mother's full title. Protection officers were despatched to collect golf balls and private jets seemed to be hired as casually as an Uber on a night out.

The Paris-based journalist Peter Allen, among the sources for the book, says many of Andrew's problems reflect on his "flawed character".

"He's been afforded every type of privilege, all his life, while displaying very poor judgement and getting into highly compromising situations."

Known as "Baby Grumpling" in his early years, Andrew was claimed to have moved people from jobs because one was wearing a nylon tie, and another because he had a mole on his face.

Diplomats, whose cause Andrew was meant to be advancing, nicknamed him "His Buffoon Highness" because of all the gaffes.

There are details of his unhappy knack of getting involved with all the wrong people in his money-making ventures, from Libyan gun runners and relations of dictators to a Chinese spy.

"This book appears to seal the fate of Andrew if he was ever hoping to be reinstated officially into the working royals," says royal commentator Pauline Maclaran.

"The public will be wanting to see some clear action on the King's part I think — particularly as Andrew's connections to Epstein are raked over again," says Prof Maclaran.

If this seems like a torrent of bad news, the book also raises some deeper questions about what lies behind Prince Andrew's character.

There are suggestions of an often lonely and isolated figure, obsessed with sex but much weaker at relationships. Sources from his time in the navy saw his "bombastic" exterior as concealing a much more vulnerable and socially awkward figure, whose upbringing had made him unsure how to behave.

He showed authentic courage when he flew helicopters in the Falklands war and he was remembered as being willing to "muck in" during that stressful time, when crews were living on canned food rather than fine dining.

On his fascination for sex, an unnamed source claims Andrew lost his virginity at the age of 11, which the same source likens to a form of abuse.

One of his former naval colleagues went from seeing Andrew as "immature, privileged, entitled" to having a more sympathetic view of a character of "loneliness and insecurity", a public figure who was uncertain about how he fitted in with other people, and had ended up with the "wrong sort of friends".

Top of that list must be Jeffrey Epstein. Lownie's book offers meticulous detail of the connections between Prince Andrew and the US financier and sex offender, establishing links that went back to the early 1990s, earlier than had previously been established.

It is also strong on the unbalanced nature of their relationship, with a friend of Andrew's describing the prince's dealings with Epstein as "like putting a rattlesnake in an aquarium with a mouse".