The author of a new book about Prince Andrew has called for “more accountability from the Royal Family and more transparency” after encountering what he claims was considerable secrecy while researching his book.
Andrew Lownie has spent four years working on Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York – a book unauthorised by Prince Andrew – and submitted hundreds of Freedom of Information requests to government departments.
However, he’s revealed to Sky News that all of his applications for information about Prince Andrew and his official work were knocked back.
The royal household and the royal archive are already exempt from FoI requests.
Speaking ahead of the book’s publication, which has already attracted considerable attention because of more lurid claims about the duke, Mr Lownie told Sky News: “Clearly there are details that people have picked up on and run with. And you know, that’s inevitable in these sort of books.”
But he added: “If they’re to earn our trust and support, they have to show that they are not hiding things – that they are behaving well.”
Mr Lownie said he was given a catalogue of reasons by the likes of the Foreign Office and the Department for Business and Trade as to why they couldn’t help with information about Prince Andrew’s public work as a trade envoy in the 2000s.
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Sky News was shown a selection of those response letters.
“They blame everything from security reasons, to cost and man hours, to data protection, to my questions being too broad,” the author said.
But Mr Lownie believes it’s in the interest of the Windsors to be more open if they want to guarantee long-term backing from the public, and he hopes his book may trigger more calls for greater transparency.
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It comes as a new YouGov report found that Prince Andrew remains the most unpopular royal in the country, with 87% of people having a negative view of him. According to the survey, just 5% of people have a favourable view of the Duke of York.
The poll also found the royals are less popular with a younger audience.
Only 36% of 18 to 24-years-olds believe the monarchy is good for the country, compared with about 60% of Britons overall.
The generational difference is underlined given 81% of over-65s think Britain should continue to have a monarchy, but this falls with each age group to just 41% of 18 to 24s.
Stories about Prince Andrew continue to attract a huge amount of attention and regularly still make him a difficult distraction for the Royal Family.
Mr Lownie says he got no sense of any appetite to reintroduce him into public life while doing his research.
“I don’t think he has any public future. I would say his private future is pretty limited too. I mean, he lives in Royal Lodge [on the Windsor Estate], he plays golf, watches TV, and presumably sees his grandchildren … he’s living the life of a retired man.”
But according to one member of staff, the removal of his royal and military titles has stung more than Prince Andrew has publicly shown.
“What most annoys him is his lack of a royal status,” Mr Lownie added. “That’s what really sort of gave him his whole sense of identity. And that’s, you know, it’s not being able to put on his uniforms and strut around and being self-important.”
Buckingham Palace has not made any comments on the book as the Duke of York is no longer a working royal.
Sky News approached the Duke of York’s office but received no response.
