Where does Prince Andrew get all his cash? Former MP NORMAN BAKER asks how the Duke of York could buy a £13million ski chalet and renovate his Windsor home for £7.5millionBy Norman Baker For The Mail On Sunday Published: 17:28 EDT, 19 October 2019 | Updated: 20:54 EDT, 19 October 2019 Prince Andrew completed 22 years in the Armed Forces and served with courage and distinction in the Falklands War of 1982. The trouble is that after his retirement in 2001, he found himself at a loose end – and the rest of us found ourselves with a loose cannon.In the immediate wake of his departure from the Royal Navy, Andrew was handed the role of the UK Special Representative for Trade and Investment, taking over from the Duke of Kent. Each year the Prince receives a tax-free handout from his mother of £249,000 to fund his private office, to which he can add a small naval pension of £20,000. Yet his spending habits suggest an income way beyond thatUnfortunately, the way he undertook this job was anything but diplomatic.One former Royal aide described the Prince’s approach to his new role as ‘the worst combination of arrogance and stupidity’, while Simon Wilson, who served as deputy head of mission in Bahrain between 2001 and 2005, reported that Andrew was ‘more commonly known among the diplomatic community in the Gulf as HBH – His Buffoon Highness’.For good measure, Wilson was withering about the entourage that Andrew took everywhere as he fulfilled his new role, and about the cost to the taxpayer. ‘The style in which I observed him carrying it [the job] out beggared belief,’ said Wilson. Most strikingly, in late 2014 Andrew and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, bought a £13 million ski chalet in the upmarket Swiss resort of Verbier. At the same time, he was spending £7.5 million to refurbish Royal Lodge, his home in Windsor Great Park‘He travelled with a team of six – there was also a 6ft ironing board that he insisted went everywhere he went. It was hilarious to witness the valet struggling off the plane with it and placing the precious object carefully into the minibus.’It seems that despite the acute embarrassments, the shady company he keeps and the pointed questions about his activities, Andrew has not modified his behaviour one iota.Each year the Prince receives a tax-free handout from his mother of £249,000 to fund his private office, to which he can add a small naval pension of £20,000. Yet his spending habits suggest an income way beyond that. Most strikingly, in late 2014 Andrew and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, bought a £13 million ski chalet in the upmarket Swiss resort of Verbier. At the same time, he was spending £7.5 million to refurbish Royal Lodge, his home in Windsor Great Park.Nor was he scrimping on personal possessions. In early 2015, he was snapped wearing the latest 18-carat gold Apple Watch, which would have set him back around £12,000. Unless, of course, that was another ‘private’ gift. In the immediate wake of his departure from the Royal Navy, Andrew was handed the role of the UK Special Representative for Trade and Investment, taking over from the Duke of Kent. He is pictured above in 2001So how can someone with the declared income he has possibly afford a Swiss chalet, and to support such an opulent lifestyle? Unless he has come up trumps in the National Lottery, he is clearly gathering in significant sums that we do not know about.People do not generally hand over large sums to other people out of the goodness of their heart. They generally want something in return. We are entitled to be told where Andrew’s hidden wealth has come from, and what he has given in return. If he will not come clean, he should be removed from all Royal duties and become a private citizen.© Norman Baker, 2019l What Do You Do? What The Royal Family Don’t Want You To Know, by Norman Baker, is published by Biteback, priced £20. Offer price £16 (20 per cent discount) until November 12. To order, call 01603 648155 or go to mailshop.co.uk. Free delivery on all orders – no minimum spend.
Former MP NORMAN BAKER asks how the Duke of York could buy a £13million ski chalet
