Prince Andrew faces the new misery of beginning this second, ignominious chapter of his life. Photo / AP
Prince Andrew faces the new misery of beginning this second, ignominious chapter of his life. Photo / AP
OPINION:
When Prince Andrew was born 62 years ago, there was a 41-gun salute and the bells of Westminster Abbey rang out, the first child born to a reigning monarch in 103 years.
His was meant to be a permanently gilt-edged life, one of incredible privilege, perpetual deference, gold-braided red military jackets and of bowing and scraping courtiers.
Instead, the Duke of York's existence today bears no resemblance to any of that and instead the disgraced former frontline member of the royal family is staring down the barrel of decades of a lonely, desultory life in permanent exile after settling his civil sex abuse case for a reported $24.4 million.
While the payout might end his legal nightmare after Virginia Giuffre accused the Queen's son of sexually assaulting her on three occasions when she was a teenager (allegations he has always denied) there is zero chance he will ever be allowed to resume any sort of public role, despite reportedly harbouring a desire to return to royal duties.
He now faces the new misery of beginning this second, ignominious chapter of his life, with insiders painting a pathetic image of him as friendless, spending his days watching TV and potentially even facing eviction.
To start with there is his house, the 31-room stately pile he lives in, basically for free, called Royal Lodge. Long the home of the Queen Mother, when she passed away and headed to the great gin bar in the sky in 2002, Andrew moved into the Georgian mansion on the Windsor estate.
Queen Elizabeth II is followed by Prince Andrew as she walks in the paddock the first day of Royal Ascot horse racing meet at Ascot, England, on June 16, 2015. Photo / AP
Several years later, having sailed far, far too close to the financial winds – again – his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York took up residence there too.
Very few photos exist of the interior of Royal Lodge but the details that have come out are bizarre, including that Andrew maintains something of a "shine" to his former spouse and that he seems to have very indulgent tastes in flowers.
Royal biographer Anna Pasternak has recounted visiting the property and being taken aback by the Duke's very intriguing choice of decor.
"I was agog that every surface boasted expensive floral displays and what appeared to be a shrine-like devotion to Sarah. There were so many framed photographs of his former wife," Pasternak has written in The Telegraph.
Pasternak was there as she was working on a biography about Wallis Simpson and Royal Lodge was where King Edward VIII spent his last night before abdicating the throne.
"As Andrew was alone and seemed slightly at a loss – the golf playing on a huge television in a room next door to his study – what was to be a fleeting visit turned into over an hour's private tour," she has said, revealing that he wore monogrammed slippers as he showed them around.
This image of the royal aimlessly ambling about the place with nothing to do chimes with another insider's account of what life is like behind the Royal Lodge's walls.
When one charity worker went there for a meeting with Fergie last year, the Daily Mail's Richard Kay has reported, "he passed what he understood to be the Duke's large and airy ground floor office".
Prince Andrew appears at the Royal Chapel at Windsor on April 11, 2021, in England. Photo / AP
"Through the doorway he could see the back of a figure he took to be Andrew slumped on a sofa. A huge television was on," Kay wrote.
"When he emerged from his hour-long meeting with the Duchess and retraced his steps, Andrew was still in front of the TV."
While the Duke of York might no longer revel in the high level military or business connections he once boasted, he can still count on being cosseted by trappings of royal life, with the Lodge boasting "soaring ceilings, vast oils depicting the surrounding park and acres of worn Persian carpet," according to Pasternak.
He also still enjoys the services of a butler and deputy butler, a chef who pops over from Windsor Castle, gardeners and a valet though the part-time dresser who used to be on his staff is no longer employed. (Oh the horror! Imagine having to select one's cufflinks oneself!)
However, butlers and Persian carpets aside, the rest of his life bears no resemblance to his former day-to-day.
Andrew's Royal Standard flag (the personalised version of the standard which each of Her Majesty's children enjoy) used to fly over the Lodge when he was in residence. After his disastrous Newsnight interview in November 2019 and his quitting official duties, it was removed.
When he celebrated his 62nd birthday last weekend, the Westminster Abbey bells did not ring out as they once would have nor did other members of the house of Windsor send him good wishes via social media.
In recent months, the only time Andrew has been snapped in public has been when he was spied zipping along the narrow roads to see his mother at nearby Windsor Castle. Even that has now come to an end.
Prince Andrew and his daughter Princess Beatrice. Photo / Getty Images
Earlier in February, The Sun revealed that Charles had "effectively banished" Andrew from Windsor Castle, with a royal source saying: "Charles wants Andrew out of the line of sight and out of the picture. He has been warned to keep his head down.
"Charles does not want Andrew to be photographed every other day looking happy and waving as he is driven to the castle."
Instead, Andrew is now forced to visit his 95-year-old mother "under the cover of darkness" with the Sun reporting that he made "secret" night-time sorties every single day last week.
"Andrew has been very careful and is trying to keep out of sight," a royal insider has said.
"He knows there are photographers in the daytime and his best chance to avoid them is after dark.
"He knows he is meant to be keeping his head down and it's a short trip, but he is extremely contrite and apologised to the Queen for all the trouble he has caused her."
(The same report also revealed that Andrew has apologised to his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, which really seems like the very least he could do.)
It's worth pausing here for just a moment to let that sink in: That he is so radioactive a figure he has to furtively sneak around to see his mother and has to wait until after dark to do so.
Invitations to society dos have long reportedly long since totally dried up for Andrew.
The only other times in recent months he has been seen out and about are during his occasional rides in Windsor Park, when he enjoys "an hour's canter around the estate," per the Mail.
"It is the only moment he has in the week to decompress. It is his escape from everything else that is going on around him," a source has told the Mail's Richard Kay.
So is Andrew accompanied by close friends for these outings, those in his inner circle rallying around him, eager to keep his spirits up?
As if. He has only been seen with royal grooms on his horsey jaunts. (Talk about drawing the short straw.)
Prince Andrew with the then Virginia Roberts. Photo / Supplied
In fact, the sole person, aside from Fergie, who has publicly come out in full-throated support of him has been socialite Lady Victoria Hervey who recently went on a truly bizarre Instagram rant offering up a series of fringe arguments about why the notorious photo of him with Giuffre and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell was a fake.
Every other intimate and notable who used to feature in the royal's orbit has long since deserted him when it comes to speaking out on his behalf.
"Life for the Duke has become quite small compared with what it was. There is no riotous range of activities going on," one old family friend has told the Mail.
Fergie, meanwhile, says the friend is "his wingman. She's got no one else and nor has he. They are like two lost souls."
The duo could find their days of rattling around Royal Lodge drawing to an end though.
There has been a series of reports of late claiming that William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are eyeing up a move to the Windsor area, with talks already having taken place for them to take over Royal Lodge.
Depending on who you listen to, the Yorks could either be shunted off to nearby Fort Belvedere (which has been rented for decades to a Canadian billionaire) or they could be "made to leave Windsor" entirely, a source has previously told the Sun.
Next month, the royal family will gather at Westminster Abbey for a service of thanksgiving for the life of Prince Philip with Andrew likely in attendance. Reports suggest that if his presence overshadows the coverage of the day then he will be forced even further into the shadows by his mother and brother.
The most he can hope for now is that he will be allowed to occasionally take part in family events, a far, far cry from the days of taking part in the military procession for Trooping the Colour or gadding about Ascot.
Perhaps it's time he invested in a second pair of those pompous monogrammed slippers. Banished from his former plum roles and a social pariah, he now faces the decades ahead as a royal outcast, with little but the remote and Fergie to keep him company.
• Daniela Elser is a royal expert and a writer with more than 15 years experience working with a number of Australia's leading media titles.
