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His best-selling book Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York helped take down Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and now royal biographer Andrew Lownie is sharing a revelation he finds “most shocking” exclusively with Woman’s Day.
As the palace comes under increasing scrutiny over what was known about the former Prince Andrew’s past behaviour, Lownie is casting a light behind the scenes – and what it means for the future of King Charles.
The expert spoke out as more photos came to light in the infamous Epstein files – one purportedly showing Andrew in the dining room of Jeffrey Epstein’s New York with his arms around a young woman seated on his lap. (It should be noted that Andrew has consistently denied wrongdoing and inclusion in the Epstein files does not necessarily indicate such.)
Reflecting on recent developments, Lownie told Woman’s Day that he was shocked by the “brazenness” and “sleaziness” of Andrew’s behaviour.
“Leering at cameras with girls draped over him – he must have thought this stuff would come out,” he said, claiming that Andrew was “protected by the Palace” who “issued legal threats, ignored complaints from senior people like the former head of the Foreign Office and MI6”.
“They shut the story down. They say they will co-operate with the authorities, but I saw letters going out to protection officers in December, reminding them of their obligations of confidentiality,” Andrew revealed.
“That’s what is shocking – even at this stage, they think they can get away with putting a lid on it. The fact the Palace may have been complicit in perverting the course of justice seems to be a huge story.”
And Lownie is clear on what that means: that King Charles should abdicate.
”I think the King should step down, I think he is compromised, but I don’t think he will,” the expert told Woman’s Day.
“He’s waited a long time for this job, he’s not going to give it up without a huge fuss. “His feeling, I’m told, is that he should be the punchbag to weather all this criticism and he should start introducing reforms, then William can come in with a completely clean slate. But whether Charles has the desire to make these changes, I’m a little cynical.”
Indeed, Lownie explained that while he contacted around 3000 people for his bombshell book, only 10 per cent of those spoke to him.
“I’m amazed, even now, people are nervous of talking,” he shared. “I think there’s still a lot of deference – people are worried about not getting their invitation to the Garden Party or their OBE.
“That’s what I found most shocking, the number of people who were aware of what was going on and didn’t do anything about it, and those who did try, were penalised.”
But as time marches on, Lownie is adamant that more skeletons in the closet are waiting to be exposed.
“I’ve got a lot of material in my paperback and I think we’ll get more people coming forward,” he told Woman’s Day.
“Hopefully, if the police are doing their job properly, we will have charges brought.
“Sarah Ferguson certainly should talk to the Senate and should be interviewed by the police here. There may be a case for fraud.”
