“Muckraking” is how the late Queen’s press secretary Dickie Arbiter described suggestions the monarch had an affair with her beloved horse racing manager “Porchie” aka Lord Porchester, after TV series The Crown famously suggested he and the Queen were more than just close confidantes.
But in bombshell new claims, royal biographer Andrew Lownie, whose bestseller Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York has helped take down Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, says he believes Porchie is the former prince, Andrew’s real father.
“He was the favourite, he was spoilt. He has a very different character to Edward and Charles and that’s because I think he has a different father,” says Lownie talking exclusively with Woman’s Day from his London home.
“I think he’s the child of Lord Porchester and Lord Porchester was like that. Also he’s a narcissist, on the spectrum in some respect, and just not a very nice person.
“One of the great mysteries is how the Queen protected him. I think Fergie made Andrew a lot worse, but he’s always wanted to mix with jet-setters.”
The Queen and Porchie were famously friends, bonding over a shared love of horses and horse racing. In 2019, British expert Kate Williams told Sky News that she believed the Queen loved Porchie because he gave her an insight into a life she might’ve had if she hadn’t been Queen.
“Because she would have probably been a professional horse trainer, that’s probably what she would have gone into.”
In The Crown the Queen is seen enjoying overseas trips with Porchie, which sparks a tense conversation with Prince Phillip when she returns to Buckingham Palace.
“I have nothing to hide from you, Porchie is a friend,” the Queen tells Prince Phillip in one scene.
“And yes, there are those who would have preferred me to marry him, but to everyone’s regret and frustration the only person I have ever loved is you.”
Lord Porchester was married with three kids, including George Reginald Oliver Molyneux Herbert, the current Earl of Carnarvon, who is The Queen’s godson, and remained close to the Queen until his death in 2001.
Lownie, who is currently writing a biography about Prince Phillip in which he focuses on his relationship with the Queen says, says the palace regularly covered up Andrew’s sins. The disgraced former prince allegedly borrowed millions of pounds from his late parents and King Charles to pay off his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, in 2022.
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.
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