Throwing the book at Former Prince Andrew

A royal expert spills the tea on the arrest, Fergie and how the scandal will unfold

“I have 800 unread emails in my inbox,” says the author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York. I am speaking to Andrew Lownie, British historian and best-selling writer, on the day after that fallen Duke of York was arrested for suspicion of misconduct in public office. Lownie is exactly the person to talk to when making sense of what has led up to this moment and what will happen next.

Last fall, when Entitled was released, it became an instant bestseller and sensation, leading to renewed scrutiny into the finances of then-Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah Ferguson – and the revelations helped mobilize public opinion. It was clear that the Royal Family needed to do more to address the issue, just as the files in the Jeffrey Epstein case were being released in the U.S. – showing that Andrew had been dishonest about the depth and length of dealings with the convicted sex offender.

For months, Lownie has been promising a new addition to Entitled that would provide info about the family’s behaviour, including Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice’s knowledge of their parents’ transgressions. With Andrew’s arrest this week, Lownies’ updated Entitled exposé will be available for purchase on May 21.

An eternal thorn in Buckingham Palace’s side, with earlier books like Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsorand Stalin’s Englishman: Guy Burgess, the Cold War, and the Cambridge Spy Ring, Lownie took time during the busiest day of his career for an interview with Zoomer from his London home, dishing all the details of the ex-Prince’s arrest, his surprise release just 11 hours later, what comes next for Epstein’s disgraced former friend and implications for the rest of the Royals.

Zoomer: Did you know this arrest would happen or were you as surprised as everyone else?

Andrew Lownie: Funnily enough, one of my sources told me before Christmas that there’d be a big story mid-February. But they didn’t say what it was, so I had no idea and, yeah, it did come as a complete shock. I thought that the Andrew investigations would take ages, they would kick them into touch, and nothing really would happen. But they clearly moved very smartly, which suggests they’ve got a lot of evidence. It sounds like they had a lot of this material months ago and they’ve been just building on their case and they did so very publicly and deliberately picked his birthday, because they’re really nice people.

Was it really public though? They took him away in an unmarked car.

I suppose, yes, but they also blocked-off the back entrance for a dawn raid. That’s dramatic stuff. Quite often the police just ask people to come in and aid their inquiries, so they could have just suggested he come into the station. [The display suggests] they’ve got a pretty strong case and they’re playing with fire if they don’t bring charges now, because they’ve raised expectations. If this turns out to be just another performative piece of smoke and mirrors, that’s going to really annoy people. The public will be very angry.

And yet, after 11 hours at the station, Mountbatten-Windsor was released without being charged. What does that mean to you?

It’s very interesting. He wasn’t charged; he wasn’t put on bail. I’m assuming the police must have had all their ducks in a row but, if so, why haven’t they followed up with charges? They let him go after 11 hours when they could have kept him 24 or even 36 hours, which might mean they’ve got everything they needed and didn’t need more time. The next stage would be charges being brought, which I expect would happen within the next week or so.

What exactly is “misconduct” and how difficult is it to prove?

“Misconduct in public office” is a charge for a public official who basically brings the post into disrepute. It could be corruption, leaking sensitive information, asking someone else to break the law. It’s not widely used, and there haven’t been that many prosecutions in the last 10 years. It won’t be difficult to prove he sent the emails, but there are lots of ways he can try to get out of it. He could claim he wasn’t a public official, but clearly he was representing British interests abroad on travel paid for by the taxpayer. He could also try what [Diana’s Butler] Paul Burrell did and call for the monarch to give evidence. The Queen couldn’t give evidence in her own courts, which operate under her auspices, so the trial quickly collapsed. Andrew might say that Charles knew all about this, get him in the witness stand, and bring Charles down with him.

Wait — are we seriously in abdication territory here? What do you think is the likelihood of that?

I think it’s about 50-50, depending on what emerges. The palace denies it, in a very half-hearted way, but The Sun reported that Charles contributed to the £12 million [paid to Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre]. The journalist said they’re absolutely sure of their source, and certainly my source says that Charles contributed. In any case, it’s irrelevant, [because] he was part of the discussions. He must have wondered why they were paying this woman 12 million pounds? What was that for? The Royal Family doesn’t don’t give money that generously. There’s the possibility that Charles, if this is being proved to be complicit in the cover-up, would have to stand down. They’d finesse it, you know, say he’s standing down for health. They’d find a way of dressing it up.

What does it mean that Andrew’s being arrested for misconduct rather than sex trafficking?

He hasn’t been charged [with sex trafficking] yet, but we’ve now got seven police forces that are looking into that. There will be pressure on the police to pursue the sex trafficking allegations as well. The police may be doing this in stages, but there’s no reason why they couldn’t bring two different cases against him in two different trials. I think they think that misconduct in public office is an easier charge to get him on, because you need to have girls giving statements. [Misconduct] could be an easy way of sending him prison and saying the job’s done. The maximum penalty for misconduct is life imprisonment, but most of the sentences are much smaller than that. He could be sent to a nice prison for three years.

Besides Ghislaine Maxwell, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is the first famous figure to be arrested in relation to Epstein. What does this mean for the rest of them?

It suggests [investigators] have a lot of evidence against him, that he’s an easy target. To go in for the big fry like this, they must be pretty certain. [For everyone else,] it can go either way again. On one hand, it could mean the arrests are starting. It’s good news for Putin and China, because this is more destabilization of the West, more distrust of institutions and a distraction from what might be going on elsewhere. Does anyone know what Trump did yesterday? There’s been no coverage of world politics for the last two weeks in Britain. It’s all Andrew.

If he goes to jail, do you suspect Andrew will sing like a canary?

That must be the fear and that’s why they’re very reluctant to go to trial. I think they’ll find any way around to avoid a trial, either by saying there isn’t sufficient evidence or by letting him escape so he doesn’t have to face the trial, of which I think the latter is the more likely. We don’t have plea bargains [in the U.K.], though quietly behind the scenes, you can get remission of your sentence if you prepare to finger a few other people. You encourage the judge to be lenient because you’ve been so cooperative.

…but does that really sound like Andrew to you?

It does not. This is a man who believed he’d done nothing wrong. I don’t see any sort of remorse, but yesterday was a real wake-up call. That picture yesterday of him returning [from the police station], haunted and frightened, looking like a hunted animal. I felt sorry for him. This is a guy who’s suddenly been hit with the full realization of what might be coming. No one knows his state of mind.

I hate to say it, but do you think Andrew is at all a sacrificial lamb?

Yes, absolutely. For the rest of the Royal Family to save Charles, he’s been thrown to the wolves. I don’t think Andrew’s got many friends. He’s brought a lot of damage to the palace. People are asking wider questions and [the Royal Family] are hoping that if they basically put him up, it’ll stop people asking questions about Charles: What did he know? When did he know it? And what did he do about it? These are the bigger questions, and for that, Andrew can be sacrificed.

At this point it seems almost biblical.

It’s Jacob and Esau. Charles is the good son and Andrew was the naughty one. Charles was given a pretty tough time while Andrew indulged. The Queen sided with her favourite little son, even after the Epstein allegations. Obviously Charles is trying to contain this and hoping Andrew will take the punishment, but the danger is that as you go and pick the ball of wool, the whole thing begins to unfurl.

Speaking of which, where is Fergie? And what about Princess Beatrice and Eugenie?

Good question! She normally goes on her travels when she’s running away from things. She was last sighted in Doha about a week ago, but she’s also been in Switzerland, maybe Australia or Thailand, so who knows? She clearly must be worried because she’s a material witness who saw a lot of things. She’s now highly discredited because of the revelation of a really close relationship [with Epstein]: She called him “my brother,” she was always trying to get money off him, he was helping her with various businesses. She even took her children to meet him as soon as he came out of prison. Beatrice and Eugenie are old enough and they’re aware about what’s been happening over the last 15 years. They both spend a lot of time in the Middle East, where there are business opportunities for them and people don’t care about their reputation.

Do you really think the whole family might pack up and move there?

There’s a very real possibility that Andrew just gets driven in the back of a car to a private airport and flown out to the Middle East or China or somewhere else never to be seen again. I suspect he has some security or there’s certainly police at the gate, but he might be allowed to escape to the Middle East and the Royal family will say they knew nothing about it. Sorry, we tried, but he got away. That would be the neat answer here that avoids all the problems, but because the last thing the Royal Family wants is a trial with all this stuff coming out.