Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor certainly liked the finer things in life – but according to sources inside the palace, he wasn’t a favourite among the staff
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor had certain catchphrases for royal staff(Image: Getty Images)
He was apparently the late Queen’s ‘favourite’ son – but it appears Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor wasn’t well loved by royal household staff.
A former staffer has lifted the lid on what the ex prince is really like behind closed doors, and claims he had a “grim” catchphrase for the staff which left them “humiliated”.
Andrew is always said to have enjoyed the finer things in life. Even after King Charles stripped him of his titles, it’s claimed that the ex duke still demanded royal treatment from staff, enjoying full cooked breakfast prepped by a personal chef and ordering weekly crates of champagne and fine wines. Royal sources – from experts to former employees – have dubbed the disgraced royal “entitled” in various reports.
And according to renowned royal author Andrew Lownie, Andrew’s attitude was that his staff were “there to serve and not to question his actions”.
The former prince would ‘humiliate’ staff according to insiders(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
He is said to have made bizarre requests of royal employees, and would allegedly ‘scream and shout’ if they were not followed through. The author spoke to one of the Queen Mother ‘s former equerries, Colin Burgess, for his book Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York.
Burgess recalled: “I saw Andrew about once a month, when he came to visit Clarence House, and he would talk to the staff, including me, as an officer talks to his subordinates.”
He claimed Andrew didn’t have the same grace as his mother when it came to speaking to staff and added: “He would say things such as ‘I want this done and I want it done now,’ or ‘Have that done by such and such a time.’ I remember him always saying ‘Do it!’ which was his catchphrase of sorts.”
This was in stark contrast to how the equerry was treated by the Queen Mother or King Charles, who saw staff as “human beings”, he said.
Elsewhere in Lownie’s book, ‘Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York’, he claims that Andrew insisted that the maids in his home climb four floors of stairs just to open his curtains for him in the morning – while he lay right beside them.
Andrew also once allegedly banished a staffer because he “couldn’t bear” to look at a mole in his face, and also arranged to remove a member of his staff because he was wearing a nylon tie, according to royal writer Tom Quinn.
After being exiled from Royal Lodge, latest reports suggest Andrew will have far less staff on hand at the significantly smaller Marsh Farm. It’s been said before Andrew’s arrest this week, his brother the King had offered him a Sandringham cleaner, groundsman and cook on an ad hoc basis – but didn’t “go down well”. The former Duke of York will be removed from the line of succession, government sources have suggested, once the police investigations against him have concluded. Doing so will require all 14 of the realms of which King Charles is head of state to agree, and an act of parliament.