Andrew Lownie on what he loved, learned and disliked about writing sensational royal book Entitled
A new book on the royal family has made headlines across the world. Now its author reveals what he loved, learned and disliked about writing it – and what caught him by surprise.
Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, my book on the Duke and Duchess of York, has been a departure for me in that it relies largely on interviews rather than archives – and we all know that people don’t tend to discuss their relationship with members of the royal family.
My first surprise, therefore, was to discover that there were plenty of people prepared to talk about Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson – and on the record – not least, two groups I thought would spurn my approaches: diplomats and Andrew’s naval colleagues.
In fact, some 300 people talked to me about the Yorks, from former members of staff (in spite of non-disclosure agreements) to schoolfriends and journalists whose stories had been spiked.
A further surprise was to see just how brazen the couple had been in exploiting their royal position for personal financial gain. Among Ferguson’s money-making activities was accepting £100,000 from an Austrian building magnate to accompany him to the Vienna Opera Ball and be escorted through a shopping centre by fake guardsmen while an oompah band played the national anthem.
Andrew, in his taxpayer-paid role promoting British trade, was asking diplomats to arrange meetings with people useful to him, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein or his business adviser David Rowland. And it was shocking to discover that Andrew had the protection of the late Queen, who not only turned a blind eye to his activities but actually helped him by entertainings ome of the dodgy dictators with whom he was doing business.
What was also shocking was a court case that revealed large payments to the family, which they were unable to explain. In the first case, from 2022, some £750,000 ($1,539,449) had been paid into Andrew’s account, ostensibly for his help in securing a passport for a Turkish millionairess or as a wedding gift for his daughter Beatrice.
The money was later returned, but a further £350,000 paid to Andrew was not. The duchess had received £225,000, supposedly for her role as a brand ambassador for a technology infrastructure company, and her daughter Eugenie £10,000 from “a longstanding family friend to assist with the cost of a surprise party for my mother”. The next day a further payment of £15,000 was made to her marked ‘Birthday Gift’ – some five months before her birthday.
What also surprised me was the full story of the famous Newsnight interview in which Andrew discussed his friendship with now-dead sex offender Epstein. It is true that Newsnight had been angling for an interview but this was concerning Andrew’s initiative Pitch@Palace. It was another BBC program, Panorama, that really had the story: a team led by producer Laura Burns had for months been researching the links between Andrew and Epstein and already had in the can an interview with Epstein’s late victim Virginia Giuffre. It was they who had approached Buckingham Palace in August to offer a right of reply.
The circumstances of the granting of the interview to Newsnight, 72 hours before the events, are unclear but it is thought Buckingham Palace believed it would be a more sympathetic approach.
Briefed by Laura Burns, interviewer Emily Maitlis showed that was not to be the case.
What has not surprised me is the obstacles placed in my way.
The Yorks told people not to talk to me, the Foreign Office instructed diplomats not to speak to me, Ferguson’s lawyer wrote threatening letters to my publisher, long before publication, saying my social media was being monitored.
Freedom Of Information requests over the last four years for the files relating to Andrew’s time as Special Representative for Trade and Investment – some of which by law should be in the National Archives – have been rejected with every possible FOI exemption possible.
What I learned form the process?
Several things. That the relationship between the Yorks and Epstein began earlier, lasted longer and was much closer than we have hitherto realised and that Epstein gave more than £1m to Ferguson rather than the £15,000 claimed. Legal depositions and eye witness accounts show the couple continued to stay at Epstein’s homes long after they had claimed to cut links with him.
What I loved about it?
The sheer wackiness of their lives, from Ferguson’s extravagances to Andrew’s bizarre behaviour.
The book is as much a black comedy as a biography exposing financial corruption at the royal family’s heart.
Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York by Andrew Lownie will be published in Australia by HarperCollins on August 26.
Share your thoughts at The Sunday Book Club group on Facebook.
More Coverage
Originally published as Andrew Lownie on what he loved, learned and disliked about writing sensational royal book Entitled
