Inside the Royal Disgrace: Biographer on Andrew’s Long‑Running Privilege

Published: 24 February 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

A new biography by Andrew Lownie, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, delivers a comprehensive and critical account of Andrew Mountbatten‑Windsor — the former Duke of York — portraying decades of alleged personal and institutional failings that have culminated in a dramatic fall from grace for one of Britain’s most controversial royals. The book, published amid intense public scrutiny and legal turmoil surrounding Andrew, claims that for years British taxpayers and the establishment absorbed and obscured behaviour that should have prompted earlier accountability.

Lownie’s research, drawn from thousands of interviews and extensive documentary material, presents a portrait of a privileged royal whose lavish lifestyle, poor judgement, and alleged misuse of influence went largely unchecked. Despite holding official roles such as special representative for international trade and investment, and receiving public and private funding for much of his adult life, Andrew’s sources of income have remained opaque, with critics questioning how he maintained extravagant personal expenses on limited declared earnings.

Entitled recounts episodes that, according to Lownie, should have been “alarm signals” within the palace, government and police. Among them are allegedly unchecked spending on luxury travel, expensive possessions, and taxpayer‑funded expenses that former civil servants have described as rubber‑stamped rather than scrutinised. Lownie writes that staff within government departments sometimes balked at approving such claims but were overridden, illustrating an institutional reluctance to challenge a senior royal.

The biography also revisits Andrew’s long‑publicised association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, episodes that have shadowed the former prince for years. Virginia Giuffre’s allegations — which Andrew has consistently denied — and their subsequent civil settlement, have remained focal points of public debate and perception of the royal’s conduct. Lownie’s narrative argues that such associations, along with other behaviour patterns, should have prompted more rigorous examination much earlier than it did.

Lownie describes decades of resistance to transparency, including denied freedom‑of‑information requests and reluctance from former officials to speak openly. He asserts that the monarchy and government repeatedly cushioned Andrew’s missteps rather than holding him to account, effectively paying for “happy endings” that protected his status and shielded the institution from embarrassment.

The book has attracted attention not only for its detailed allegations but for its broader implications about accountability and privilege within Britain’s royal establishment. As Andrew faces legal challenges and public inquiries, Entitled positions itself as a definitive account of how decades of alleged excess and evasiveness converged in a crisis that has tested both the monarchy’s public standing and the limits of its traditional immunity to scrutiny.

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