Prince Andrew and past controversies are still challenging the royal family

[snokitty]

COMMENT: Prince Andrew and his controversies still plaguing the royal family | Royal | News | Daily Express

They were often constructed to be a mixture of public taxpayer-funded duties and privately-funded business visits or holiday despite a 2004 National Audit Office report into his travel arrangements that  said: "In order to avoid confusion, combining private and public engagements in the same trip is actively discouraged."

In 2014 Andrew undertook 67 engagements in 11 countries, mostly in the Middle East, where his royal status is often said by his supporters to carry weight in helping British companies to sell exports to the region's ruling families.

Yet British and foreign diplomats have told a different tale. Sir Ivor Roberts, president of Trinity College, Oxford and former UK ambassador to Italy, Yugoslavia and Ireland, was less than complimentary about a royal visit to Rome: "Prince Andrew managed to offend key people brought to see him," he recalled, "He has that rather unfortunate manner of being brusque to the point of rudeness."

Simon Wilson, Britain's deputy head of mission in Bahrain from 2001 to 2005, complained of Andrew's boorish behaviour  and his inability to listen to and stick to a brief. Often the Duke, who was known by British diplomats as His Buffoon Highness, would do exactly the opposite of what was in Britain's best interests, he said.

He recalled how at one meeting with the King of Bahrain in October 2002, Andrew suggested it might be better to lease rather than buy British-made Hawk aircraft.

"We British embassy staff could hardly believe it. Instead of promoting the sale, he was trying to talk them out of it," he recalled in 2010.

His constant socialising with wealthy foreign businessmen who have entertained him on their yachts or at their palatial residences has prompted questions about what was in it for them.

[cate1949]

so much for Andy doing a bang up job as trade ambassador