{"id":327613,"date":"2025-08-08T10:20:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T10:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/327613\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T10:20:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T10:20:13","slug":"prince-andrew-called-staff-member-at-hillsborough-castle-a-fing-imbecile-new-book-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/327613\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Andrew called staff member at Hillsborough Castle a \u2018f***ing imbecile\u2019, new book claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

The book, called Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, written by Andrew Lownie, claims the Duke of York could be \u201cunbelievably cruel\u201d to royal staff.<\/p>\n

After a severe storm in Northern Ireland in 2005, Prince Andrew asked head of Hillsborough Castle David Anderson if there had been any damage, Mr Lownie writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d Mr Anderson is said to have replied. \u201cThe tree which was planted by the Queen Mother.\u201d This was followed by a withering silence, then Andrew said in a mocking voice, \u201cDid you mean Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe then asked the poor man how long he had worked for the royal family. Mr Anderson replied, \u2018I joined in 1984, sir,\u2019\u201d the book states.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you still don\u2019t know the proper way to refer to my grandmother? You f***ing imbecile. Get out,\u201d Prince Andrew is claimed to have said.<\/p>\n

Representatives for the Duke of York did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Mr Anderson, the former household manager of the official royal residence in Northern Ireland, died in 2017 aged 58. <\/p>\n

The father-of-three held the post at Hillsborough Castle for 25 years. He worked under four Prime Ministers, 12 Secretaries of State, and looked after Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Royal family when they stayed here.<\/p>\n

Mr Anderson was awarded an MBE in 1997 and was also made a member of the Victorian Order in 2010. <\/p>\n

According to the book, Prince Andrew\u2019s catchphrase for royal staff was \u201cI want this done and I want this done now. Do it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

Prince Andrew. Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n

News Catch Up – Thursday 7th August <\/p>\n

In extracts serialised in the Daily Mail, Mr Lownie claims in his book that the relationship between the Duke of York and his younger nephews, William and Harry, was \u201cproblematic\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Duke of York fell from grace and stepped away from is public role over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted paedophile. <\/p>\n

Prince Andrew has never been found guilty of wrongdoing with a previous civil sexual assault case against him settled out of court in 2022 with no admission of liability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The book, called Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, written by Andrew Lownie, claims…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-327613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114992645732633096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}