A former British diplomat has unloaded on Prince Andrew, shedding new gentle on the Duke of York’s unusual behaviour behind the scenes through the years.
Simon Wilson, now a advisor however beforehand a diplomat with the UK’s Foreign Office, is among the many interview topics featured in a looming documentary from the tv community ITV, referred to as The Real Crown.
Mr Wilson as soon as served as deputy head of the British mission in Bahrain, and interacted with Prince Andrew when the royal was a commerce envoy. He was not impressed.
“We had a whole raft of things that came out in advance of his visit, his dislikes in terms of eating and stuff. He would only drink water, it had to be at room temperature, no ice,” the ex-diplomat recounts within the documentary, in accordance with LBC.
“He always brought a large entourage with him, a private secretary, an equerry, a valet, a lady clerk and a business adviser.
“We were shocked when a six-foot ironing board was trying to be negotiated into one of the embassy cars. I just could not believe that he was bringing an ironing board with him. I asked the valet and said, ‘This is insane.’ The valet’s reply was, ‘No one knows how to iron His Royal Highness’s trousers like me.’”
This will not be the primary account of strange behaviour from Andrew. You could recall, as an illustration, the claims about an uncommon fixation on his stuffed toys.
These eccentricities bothered the embassy workers much less, nevertheless, than the Duke’s persistent rudeness and sick preparation.
On one event described by Mr Wilson, the embassy had ready a speech for Andrew at an occasion with the British ambassador.
“The ambassador gave the opening remarks and then said, ‘Your Royal Highness, you say a few words.’ And Andrew refused to get up,” says Mr Wilson.
“Then he did get up, and he tapped the ambassador on the head tow or three times and said, ‘This is the man who’ll tell you all about trade,’ and sat down. The whole went totally silent.
“I thought initially, when he went off message at meetings, that it was an aberration, until I found that the same thing had happened at every mission – Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Doha, Qatar.
“The same behaviour. Obviously, throughout his life, he’s done his own thing, and was quite happy to continue in that vein, and he knew there would be no repercussions.
“There’s no recourse as a member of the royal family, so no diplomat will write a critical letter. After every single visit a telegram would go back to the Foreign Office saying, ‘Everything has been wonderful, we’re all so grateful to His Royal Highness for another wonderful, successful visit.’
“Behind the scenes it was a different matter.”
The documentary additionally options criticism of Andrew from a Conservative Party peer, Lord Chris Patten, who discusses the Duke’s disastrous interview with the BBC in 2019.
Under questioning from Newsnight host Emily Maitlis, Andrew supplied an usually farcical defence of his friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, and a denial of the sexual assault allegations made towards him by certainly one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre.
Andrew later reached a multimillion-pound settlement with Ms Giuffre.
The Newsnight interview was so damaging to Andrew that it prompted his mom, Queen Elizabeth II, to strip him of his patronages, army affiliations and HRH title.
“He thought he was capable of getting away with some answer which inevitably turns around and hits him over the head,” says Lord Patten, who believes Andrew was complacent and out of contact with regular folks.
“It says he’s not plugged into the same reality as the rest of us.”
Source: www.news.com.au
