Prince Andrew was allegedly “very difficult” to work with, and Palace staff would “avoid him” as he was “bombastic” and would “swear”, a former royal staffer has claimed.
The Duke of York has kept a low public profile after he stepped down as a senior working royal in 2019 following his disastrous interview with BBC Newsnight.
Now, in a new documentary on Channel 5, which gives insight into the lives of the Firm from those who worked closely with them, Paul Burrell, who was a butler to the late Princess Diana and also worked for the late Queen Elizabeth for 11 years, gave his version of working with the duke.
He said in The Palace: What the Royal Servants Saw: “People tried to avoid Prince Andrew because he was very difficult. Prince Andrew was always bombastic, shouty, and always swore, and that’s something that you don’t expect from a royal.”
According to the Scottish Daily Express, the former royal butler added that Andrew was the late Queen’s “favourite son” despite his temper. Mr Burrell claimed: “He had his mother’s ear, so whenever anything went wrong in his world he was straight to the [late] Queen.”