The Andrew archive

When I remember an encounter with HRH at Buckingham Palace

This morning, the day after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in office, the first member of the monarchy to be detained since 1647, I came across an entry in the diary I kept as editor of the Financial Times. It was dated Monday, December 13, 2010, when I was invited to sit down with then Prince Andrew in Buckingham Palace. I wish to make very clear that Andrew, who was released after 11 hours in custody, has not been charged with any offence and denies all wrong-doing. Here is the diary entry, as it appears in my memoir, The Powerful and the Damned.

Amanda Thirsk from Prince Andrew’s office has been in touch. The Duke of York would like to see me at 3pm at Buckingham Palace. Our earlier Dubai conversation is fresh in my mind. What is Andrew up to now? Never having been inside the Palace, I’m up for an adventure.

It’s a splendid early winter’s day. The sun is shining. I take a stroll down Pall Mall and take a left at the main gates in search of a royal entrance. On the corner, at Palace Gate, I ask a security guard to let me in. Wrong entrance, Sir. You have to proceed to the main gates.’ I sprint back to the bearskin-hatted grenadiers guarding the main entrance and make a breathless entry into the Palace. Thirsk greets me and we ascend by lift to what appears to be the first floor. A long walk along an even longer carpet to the Duke of York’s office. He’s on the phone in another room. I’ve made him wait for a few minutes, now it’s payback.

Prince Andrew greets me, sits down and stares intently. ‘Do you have an interesting job?’

LB: ‘I certainly do’

HRH: What do you do?

Rather than talking in grand statements, I retreat into details. I recite my routine: rise at at 6.26am; car pick-up at 7am; arrive at office 7.35/40, having digested the FT newspaper and online stories. Working breakfast or more reading, 9.30am news conference, 10.30am leader conference, maybe lunch out of the office……

And so the surreal exchange goes on until I ask: what can I do for you, Sir?

HRH says his public role is misunderstood. He is delivering real value for the nation as trade envoy. How can he get across the value of what he’s doing? Would I consider sending an FT journalist on a trip with him? How about the editor?

I decline, politely. As for coverage, we’ve already done a Lunch with the FT. The prince looks disappointed. What advice might the editor of the FT have?

LB: ‘I’m a journalist. I am not in the advice business. But I could make an observation. The Duke of York perks up.

LB: ‘It might be a good idea to stop doing real estate deals with the Kazakhs.’*

Soon afterwards, I make my royal excuses and leave.

*Timur Kulibayev, son'-in-law to Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan (1990-2019) purchased the prince’s Sunninghill Park house for £3m more than the £12m asking price.

The Powerful and the Damned, Private Diaries in Turbulent Times WH Allen pp 462. Published in 2020.

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