Even before the release of the book is released, the extracts detailing the sexual escapades of Prince Andrew and his friendship with the American financier and sex predator Jeffrey Epstein made the English press agitate in the middle of summer. But it is above all the obscure friendships of the Duke of York with foreign investors not very recommendable in the Middle East or in Central Asia, during its mission-however very official-of special representative of the United Kingdom for Trade (between 2001 and 2011), which are worrying. “It is actually a book on financial corruption within the royal family”specifies Andrew Lownie at Paris Match.
The princesses Eugenie and Beatrice mixed with the dark business of Andrew? “It was inevitable”
To play the royal intermediaries underwater, in the service of his personal fortune, Prince Andrew would have pocketed juicy commissions. Among the multiple reconciliations and doubtful agreements that his three hundred sources have brought him, Andrew Lownie remembers in particular “a five million dollars commission” that Endrew would have received from the authoritarian president of Kazakhstan Noursoultan Nazarbaïev.
“The information was reported to the Queen or to her private secretary by an intelligence agent, who said to her: ‘You should be aware. It is rather embarrassing and harmful. ‘ And she did nothing “assures the historian. “She did nothing, she was not interested. And I said to myself: ‘One has the impression that the queen makes the monarchy pass before her family, that she is a woman of great probity. ‘ And here she is, accomplice of her son. “
An accomplice mother, not so passive
For Andrew Lownie, if the prince was able to lead his obscure cases for so long, it was because his mother closed his eyes. Elizabeth II would not only have supported her favorite son in a passive way: she would even have “Received in Windsor some questionable dictators, knowledge of Prince Andrew”says the historian. “I think I have always had the greatest respect for the queen. And it was hurt. So yes, I always knew that Andrew and Sarah were ill -intentioned people. But I did not realize that they were operating with the support of their family.”
When his darling son found himself involved in the Epstein affair, “Mummy” sent his best lawyers. When it was necessary to negotiate with Virginia Giuffre to avoid an embarrassing trial in 2022, she released the checkbook. “Andrew is little intelligent and if he was the Queen’s favorite, it is because he was her most vulnerable child”estimates journalist Catherine Mayer, quoted by Andrew Lownie.
Prince William: this radical decision he could make for his uncle Andrew when he is king
In 2019, however, the sovereign had to capitulate. She withdrew his military titles and royal functions to him after his disastrous television interview on the BBC, during which he tried to defend himself from the accusations of Virginia Giuffre. Charles did not wait long after the death of their mother in 2022, and his arrival on the throne, to exclude this embarrassing brother from royal affairs as much as possible.
At 65, withdrawn from public life, hated from his fellow citizens and shunned by the rest of the royal family, Prince Andrew still leads a rather comfortable life to the Royal Lodge, where he cohabited with his faithful Fergie. Far from the looks behind the walls of his castle, the Duke of York would continue his belongings “discreetly” With his rich rich friends. “He just likes to make money for the pleasure of always having more, and not always in the most honest way.” A dangerous greed that he could unfortunately have transmitted to his daughters, the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie…
