Prince Andrew's royal life lies in tatters after a 10-minute phone call with his 'furious' brother, the King. In the face of heightened scrutiny around his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew relinquished his royal titles and honours last week, but it has done little to quell the uproar.
In recent days, his links to the paedophile have brought fresh shame to the royal family following the release of Virginia Giuffre's posthumous memoir, in which she reiterated her claims that she was trafficked to the prince by the billionaire. Andrew vehemently denies these claims.
Andrew is also under pressure to evict Royal Lodge after it was revealed he has barely paid rent on the sprawling 30-room mansion for nearly 20 years. There are even calls for his Prince title to be removed, which would require an act of Parliament.
An explosive biography delving into the lives of Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson made a series of claims about the ex duke's treatment of royal staff. One source told author Andrew Lownie that Andrew's attitude was that his staff were 'there to serve and not to question his actions' and that he allegedly made extravagant demands from them.
According to Lownie, a former equerry for the Queen Mother said that he found Andrew to be a 'rude, ignorant sod', who allegedly barked demands on a regular basis. They claimed that 'Do it!' became 'his catchphrase of sorts'. This was in stark contrast to how the equerry was treated by the Queen Mother or King Charles, who saw staff as 'human beings'.
According to Lownie's book, Andrew further insisted that the maids in his home climb four floors of stairs just to open his curtains for him in the morning, whilst he lay right beside them. A source claimed: 'His bedtime habits as a single man left a lot to be desired, and a collection of scrunched-up, soiled tissues usually lay scattered around the bed each morning for staff to collect after they had made his bed.' On one occasion, Andrew is said to have brought a television technical worker to his royal home in the middle of the night, insisting the technician explain how the remote worked.
