The former Prince Andrew was a helicopter pilot during the Argentine invasion of the Falklands (Image: Getty)
A couple on the Falkland Islands have told of their sadness at the disgrace that’s befallen Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after they met him in 1982, recalling him fondly as a “laughing boy”. King Charles III’s younger brother delivered supplies by helicopter into Tim and Sally Blake’s farm in Hill Cove in the north of West Falkland shortly after the Argentines were repelled, and stayed for lunch.
Their property acted almost like a military headquarters at that time, including for a hundred-odd Scots Guards, Mr and Mrs Blake reminisced.
The future Duke of York ate there with 16 others. Mrs Blake, 83, who was born in the Falklands, said in her home near Stanley’s bust of Baroness Thatcher and war memorial: “He landed outside the school and all the children hopped aboard, and he showed them all over the helicopter, and then the teacher said when they got back to the classroom, ‘Do you know who that was? That was Prince Andrew‘.”
She added: “I feel extremely sorry, because actually I remember just another young pilot, and we saw dozens of them pass through the house.”
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Tim and Sally Blake have been married for 60 years (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
Mr Blake, 90, originally from Somerset, was at that time a member of the islands’ legislature, and had dinner onboard the HMS Invincible with Captain Jeremy Black, who was later promoted to Admiral.
He said: “Onboard ship, he [Andrew] was just one of the lads.”
Mrs Blake said the same, and recalled how Andrew was pleasant with her.
When he returned to open Mount Pleasant Airport in 1985, he actually recognised her.
But by then, the Falklander recalled, “it seemed a bit more like a personage”.
Whereas “he was just like one of the others – just having a laugh with the lads” previously.
Andrew was arrested last month on suspicion of misconduct in public office (Image: Getty)
When asked about Andrew’s life since the war, Mr Blake said he wondered if the late Queen Elizabeth II’s son may have suffered from PTSD given what he would have gone through serving in the Falklands War.
Mrs Blake added: “His life just took a nosedive, didn’t it?
“I remember basically a laughing boy.
“It’s very difficult. Incredibly sad and stupid, really.
“I feel so bad about it, you know.”
“He was such a nice young man,” Mr Blake recalled.
“Turned into a silly idiot,” Mrs Blake instantly added.
Andrew was arrested last month at his new home on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk and released under investigation on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Police held him in custody for 11 hours. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.