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In 1989 I was the royal reporter on The Sun, then Europe’s biggest selling newspaper, and wrote an article with the headline: “Yo-ho-ho! Does Andy earn his dough?”
Even in those days, questions were being asked about Prince Andrew’s lifestyle, all while he was serving as a naval officer.
My introduction read: “Britain’s best-paid sailor lives the life of a playboy at the taxpayer’s expense even when ‘working.’”
I then listed his so-called royal jobs outside the Navy which mainly enabled him to swan around the globe attending sporting and cultural events, with days off for playing golf and frolicking with attractive women.
Fast forward more than 35 years and Andrew has been humiliated, stripped of all his titles and kicked out of his home by an exasperated King Charles.
He is not even a Prince, but simply Mr Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
We all know the saga of his relationship with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which has brought us to this sorry state.
But was Andrew cursed from the start as a “spare” not an “heir?”
When he was born in 1960 he became known as the “love child” as there had been rumours his parents, the Queen and Prince Philip, had hit a rocky patch in their marriage in the mid 1950s.
His birth – and that of Prince Edward in 1964 – showed all was well, but there is no doubt the Queen spoiled him rotten.
She spent more time with Andrew than she had done with Charles and Anne, who had been born a decade earlier, because she was so busy being monarch at the start of her reign.
She doted on Andrew and he was allowed to run riot, kicking Palace policeman in the legs, showing off to friends and being showered with expensive gifts.
He grew up thinking he could do whatever he liked and it’s not surprising he became known as the Queen’s favourite child.
But we can now see that the Queen’s love for him was really a weakness, and she should have been stricter with him much earlier.
He grew up from being a spoilt brat into an arrogant adult, with a sense of entitlement.
And that’s what’s led to his downfall.
Queen Elizabeth protected him right to the end of her life and would be heartbroken by his downfall.
Andrew needed a strong wife with a sense of duty and purpose to keep him on the strait and narrow.
But instead he married Sarah Ferguson, a toxic spendthrift good time girl who brought out the worst in him.
Even after divorcing they stayed under the same roof in a bizarre Faustian pact which has brought shame and ignominy.
Being a “Spare” isn’t easy, as we know from Prince Harry, who gave that title to his blockbuster book.
And the Queen always understood that.
She saw her own sister Princess Margaret struggle with her role, turning to a hedonistic lifestyle, with a failed marriage and booze and cigarettes taking years off her life.
We now know Harry bottled up his angst for years, even revealing he had resented having a smaller bedroom than William as a child.
He finally took revenge by leaving the royal family for a new life in California with Meghan, tossing out barbs and insults on the way.
The marriage of his parents Charles and Diana reportedly fell apart shortly after his birth, with the now King telling his wife he had “done his duty” by producing two children.
Little wonder the relationship ended in disaster.
The irony of course is that a “Spare” IS needed.
When Edward VIII abdicated in 1936, sparking the biggest royal crisis of all, the Queen’s father stepped up to become Gorge VI, and did a sterling job before cancer took his life aged just 56.
The Queen knew the value of a spare, but couldn’t prevent Andrew and Harry from falling into pitfalls, despite the discipline of military service.
When Andrew was born he was second in line to the throne but over time he dropped down to eighth.
Now he might as well be 500th so low is his status.
But there is hope for the future.
After constitutional changes Princess Charlotte is now the Spare, next in line to the throne after Prince George.
Many believe Princess Anne would have been a better bet than Andrew, but because she was a woman she was down the pecking order.
Charlotte looks to me like a potential superstar, full of confidence and character, and she already seems to boss her brothers around.
William and Kate – who may be King and Queen sooner than we would like – are acutely aware of the dangers, and are bringing up their kids to cope with the inevitable pressures.
With three children – Louis looks like another winner – they will hope the future of the monarchy is secure.
