Andrew Lownie’s book explores Duke of York’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, his relationships and finances
A new biography claims startling insight into the private lives of the Duke of York and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. From relationships with women to Andrew’s mysterious finances, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, by the historian Andrew Lownie, also dives into the prince’s ill-advised friendship with the disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew’s representatives were contacted for comment.
Claims from the extracts serialised in the Daily Mail include:
Lownie claims that, although Andrew claimed to have met Epstein in 1999, “the truth is he and his ex-wife Sarah had known the financier for almost a decade by then”. Lownie writes Andrew “was easy prey for a rattlesnake like Epstein”, and adds: “Epstein played Andrew. The prince was a useful idiot who gave him respectability, access to political leaders and business opportunities. He found him easy to exploit.” Lownie quotes the US businessman Steven Hoffenberg, said to be Epstein’s “mentor” and a convicted fraudster, as saying Andrew was his “Super Bowl trophy”.
Compromising material on Andrew may allegedly have been passed to Israel’s Mossad secret service, Saudi Arabian authorities and Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan intelligence services by Epstein, according to the book. Lownie credits a documentary by the Canadian journalist Ian Halperin, writing the claims were “confirmed” to Halperin by “many in Andrew’s circle”. Although some of Epstein’s victims have alleged the financier kept video recordings of high-profile friends having sex with women, no proof has been made public to date. The claim Epstein boasted of planning to sell Andrew’s secrets to the Mossad, first reported by the US Sun, was made by Hoffenberg.
