Prince Andrew’s Royal Scandals and Controversies Defined

Between Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s 4 youngsters, Prince Andrew has maybe skilled essentially the most excessive highs and lows.

Andrew is the topic of Andrew Lownie’s 2025 ebook Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the Home of York, which the BBC reported on the time as “an unrelentingly unflattering portrait” of the royal and “depicts him as smug, self-seeking and in denial about his hyperlinks to the intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.”

Whereas that was probably unwelcome information for the royal and his household, there’s no denying that Andrew has made a couple of questionable selections all through his life.

These selections have included persevering with a long-term friendship with Epstein properly after the latter’s 2008 conviction on intercourse trafficking prices, in addition to the alleged sexual assault of the late Virginia Guiffre. (Prince Andrew denied allegations she raped Guiffre, who died by suicide in April 2025, when she was underage. The pair settled a 2021 civil swimsuit out of courtroom for an undisclosed quantity. The royal has maintained his innocence.)

Preserve scrolling to learn extra about Prince Andrew’s ups and downs throughout the royal household.

His Place Inside the Royal Household

Andrew joined the royal household on February 19, 1960, as the primary child born to a sitting queen or king. By all accounts he had an upbringing typical to that of somebody born right into a monarchy. He ultimately went to highschool at Scotland’s Gordonstoun boarding college, which each his older brother King Charles and his father, Prince Philip, additionally attended.

His Army Service

Andrew is a adorned army veteran and spent over 20 years within the British army. He expressed a want to develop into a helicopter pilot as a toddler — a dream he realized after receiving his wings in 1981.

In contrast to most members of the royal household, Andrew noticed fight throughout his time within the service. He flew a number of missions throughout the April 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina, and finally retired from the army in July 2001.

His Marriage to Sarah Ferguson

Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson married in July 1986, after having fashioned a friendship that went all the way in which again to childhood. The wedding was a celebrated one, and the pair shortly welcomed daughters Beatrice and Eugenie in 1988 and 1990, respectively.

The couple introduced their separation in 1992 and finalized their divorce in 1996. On the time, Ferguson’s want for a profession exterior of the royal household was stated to have performed a job of their determination to separate.

“I didn’t need a divorce however needed to due to circumstance. I wished to work; it’s not proper for a princess of the royal home to be industrial, so Andrew and I made a decision to make the divorce official so I may go off and get a job,” she later instructed Harper’s Bazaar.

It has since been reported that infidelity was additionally an element within the pair’s determination to separate, and in accordance with a report from the Day by day Mail, Lownie’s ebook claims Andrew would typically sleep with “greater than 10 [women] a day.”

His Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein

Andrew’s friendship with the late Epstein, who was arrested on federal prices of intercourse trafficking of minors and died by suicide in jail in 2019 whereas awaiting trial, got here to gentle in 2010, when images of the pair in New York Metropolis surfaced. Epstein served slightly below 13 months in jail after pleading responsible to state prices of solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution from a minor in 2008.

Royal watchers and the media have been unwilling to let questions concerning the pair’s relationship go, and in 2011 it was reported by a number of retailers that Andrew typically hung out at two of Epstein’s houses. Ferguson additionally as soon as acquired a mortgage of $24,500 from Epstein, in accordance with the identical studies.

Andrew was compelled to step down as commerce envoy in 2011 because of the friendship and the next scrutiny.

His Sexual Assault Allegations

Just a few years later, the late Guiffre accused Andrew of forcing her to have intercourse with him when she was underage. She claimed the acts befell at Epstein’s personal island within the Caribbean, in addition to in New York and London.

Although the palace initially denied the claims as “categorically unfaithful,” Guiffre’s accusations set off a firestorm of consideration and scrutiny of which Andrew has not but recovered. In 2019, he gave an interview to the BBC about his prolonged friendship with Epstein and Guiffre’s allegations, and claimed he had “no reminiscence” of taking a extensively publicized photograph with the then-teenager.

His Altering Royal Duties

The BBC interview did nothing to assist Andrew, and he quickly introduced his determination to step again from royal duties.

“It has develop into clear to me over the previous couple of days that the circumstances referring to my former affiliation with Jeffrey Epstein has develop into a serious disruption to my household’s work and the dear work occurring within the many organisations and charities that I’m proud to assist,” he stated in an announcement on the time. “Due to this fact, I’ve requested Her Majesty if I’ll step again from public duties for the foreseeable future, and he or she has given her permission.”

His Virginia Guiffre Lawsuit

Guiffre filed a civil lawsuit in opposition to Andrew, alleging sexual abuse in August 2021. “Immediately my legal professional filed swimsuit in opposition to Prince Andrew for sexual abuse beneath the Little one Victims Act. Because the swimsuit lays out intimately, I used to be trafficked to him and sexually abused by him,” she stated in an announcement on the time.

“I’m holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me. The highly effective and wealthy aren’t exempt from being held liable for their actions. I hope that different victims will see that it’s potential to not dwell in silence and worry, however to reclaim one’s life by talking out and demanding justice,” she added.

“Prince Andrew denies that he was a co-conspirator of Epstein or that Epstein trafficked women to him,” his attorneys Andrew B. Brettler and Melissa Y. Lerner wrote in an announcement on the time.

His Royal Honors

Queen Elizabeth stripped Andrew of his royal honors, medals and achievements in January 2022 because of the aforementioned allegations.

“With The Queen’s approval and settlement, The Duke of York’s army affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen,” Buckingham Palace introduced on the time. “The Duke of York will proceed to not undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a personal citizen.”

His Lawsuit Settlement

Andrew finally settled the lawsuit with Guiffre in February 2022 for an quantity that has been reported to be greater than $16 million, although has by no means been publicly confirmed.

“​​Prince Andrew intends to make a considerable donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in assist of victims’ rights. Prince Andrew has by no means meant to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered each as a longtime sufferer of abuse and because of unfair public assaults,” the pair’s attorneys stated in an announcement on the time.

“It’s recognized that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked numerous younger women over a few years. Prince Andrew regrets his affiliation with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and different survivors in standing up for themselves and others. He pledges to display his remorse for his affiliation with Epstein by supporting the struggle in opposition to the evils of intercourse trafficking, and by supporting its victims,” the assertion concluded.

In the event you or somebody you already know has been sexually assaulted, contact the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). In the event you or somebody you already know is experiencing home violence, please name the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential assist. In the event you or somebody you already know is a human trafficking sufferer, contact the Nationwide Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.