Howard Spooner, a hotel owner who runs The George Hotel on the Isle of Wight, attended Gordonstoun School with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and was looked after by him on several occasions. As the son of a housemaster, Spooner remembers Andrew as a senior pupil who would babysit him and his brothers. 'He was a good-looking, charming boy,' Spooner recalled. 'He was always very, very nice to me.'
Charming Babysitter Turned Entitled Prince
Years later, their paths crossed again in Verbier, a popular resort for royalty and celebrities. By then, Spooner was a successful nightclub owner. During a lunch to celebrate his engagement, Spooner witnessed a side of Prince Andrew he found deeply uncomfortable.
According to Spooner, Andrew arrived with Sarah Ferguson and their daughters before taking over the table with a game called 'What Does One Do?'. The prince asked guests to guess his occupation, repeatedly encouraging them to offer increasingly flattering answers. 'He was like, "Let's play a game... Guess what one does,"' Spooner said. 'It was kind of like, "No, more than that, more than that", as he had women call him a "trade envoy," as well as "Duke of York, a Prince," and a "war hero".'
Cutting the Lunch Short
Spooner said he only watched for a few minutes before cutting Andrew off. 'That's where I just pulled stumps and said that's it, that's enough of that now, and we're off skiing,' he recalled, ending the lunch early because he felt indulging his behaviour only reinforced it. He said: 'If you empower these people to behave like that and you're too in awe to stop them, then they'll never learn because mummy always said yes. I felt I didn't want to associate myself with this kind of person because I'm certainly not an entitled person.'
He added that Fergie seemed to encourage his behaviour, saying she would 'clap like a penguin' at whatever he said, adding he found it odd that she would 'empower that sort of behaviour'. 'The dynamic was odd between them; they're divorced and skiing together. They seemed like best buddies.'
Later Controversies and Lack of Accountability
Years later, Andrew was arrested on his birthday, February 19, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, but was released after 11 hours in custody. It came as he also faced allegations over his connection with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He has always denied any wrongdoing.
Reflecting on Prince Andrew's later public controversies, Spooner said that the former duke's biggest mistake has been an inability to address the allegations made against him. 'You've got to be accountable,' he said. 'You could have just said sorry in the first place, but it's that sense of entitlement where you get the impression he sees himself as the victim. He's lost the title and the privileges, and he's just thinking "well, what about me?"'
Spooner continued: 'The one saving grace is that King Charles is so straightforward and no nonsense. He's obviously put his brotherly love aside, and he's made the right steps, and continues to make the right steps to bring around what should be, bringing his brother to testify and tell the truth.'
