Why Prince Andrew was accused of ‘lacking self-awareness’ and living on ‘Planet Windsor’, according to royal author

With the recent publication of Andrew Lownie’s searing biography of Prince Andrew, the Duke’s reputation has faced further damage as fresh revelations are brought to light.

Lownie’s 2025 book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, which the historian spent four years working on, chronicles Andrew’s lavish lifestyle, extravagant spending and links to Jeffrey Epstein.

In April 2004, Andrew undertook a five-day trip to China, the first senior member of the Royal Family to visit since 1986, mainly at the request of British oil and gas companies, but also to see the £170million circuit being built in Shanghai for China’s first Grand Prix.

Discussing Andrew’s trip, Lownie wrote: ‘One diplomat involved with organising the visit remembered how other members of the Royal Family travelled relatively simply.

‘But Andrew, with a large retinue, insisted on staying in the Presidential Suite of a five-star hotel.’

‘He was very self-important and conscious of his status and insisted on holding each day in his suite a lavish and unnecessary planning breakfast, yet he did not seem to have been briefed or have any interest in being briefed.

‘He showed no interest in his role nor the country, and his reputation preceded him.’

Lownie added that the writer Catherine Mayer accompanied the Duke to China as the only journalist on the trip, and she got to know him well.

Prince Andrew is pictured walking in front of the grandstands on April 20, 2004 at the construction site of the Shanghai International Grand Prix Circuit in Shanghai, China

In April 2004, Prince Andrew undertook a five-day trip to China, the first senior member of the Royal Family to visit since 1986. Pictured: The Duke of York visits the Palace Museum in Beijing

He wrote: ‘She did not take him seriously and openly mocked him, accusing him of living on “Planet Windsor” and suffering from a lack of self-awareness and emotional intelligence.’ 

‘She tired of the practical jokes, the “childlike behaviour like Lord of the Flies,” and how proud he was of liking “weird things”.’

In the chapter ‘Air Miles Andy’, Lownie wrote that Andrew’s liberal use of jets attracted criticism and overshadowed his role as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment – a position he held for 10 years until 2011.

In January 2005, the National Audit Office investigated 41 of Andrew’s journeys over the previous 12 months and found that he had incurred a £325,000 bill for hiring helicopters and planes.

Lownie wrote: ‘Some £32,000 was spent on three trips to golfing events in St Andrews.

‘In one case, he spent £4,645 to take an RAF jet to the R&A instead of a £254 commercial flight, so he could finish 18 holes and, according to his aides, rush back to London. His next official engagement was not for another four days.

Andrew Lownie’s 2025 book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, which the historian spent four years working on, chronicles Andrew’s lavish lifestyle, extravagant spending and links to Jeffrey Epstein

‘Comptroller and Auditor General Sir John Bourn, who headed the inquiry, was told by royal aides that the prince was reluctant to go by rail because the service was too ‘unreliable’, though other royals regularly used trains.

‘The Daily Mail argued that, while politicians also abused the use of private jets – Tony Blair had recently used an RAF jet to take his family and retinue on a private visit to Egypt at a cost of £100,000 – Andrew’s behaviour was bringing the monarchy into disrepute.

‘The paper suggested he was a “small bomb threatening to detonate in the bosom of the Royal Family”.’ 

When the Mail on Sunday contacted UK Trade & Investment, in an attempt to investigate the costs of the duke’s travel, the government department refused to respond on the grounds that it did not keep a central list of his visits. 

The paper applied for the details under the Freedom of Information Act. After four weeks – during which the request was passed between the Department of Trade and Industry, the Cabinet Office and Buckingham Palace, and caused ‘a hell of a fuss’, according to one civil servant – officials responded by saying the details were already available on the website.

‘The paper found only thirty-two of Andrew’s trips listed out of a total of 267 trade-related engagements he made in 2004.’

Since the book’s publication, multiple well-placed sources have revealed that potentially ‘incriminating’ emails between the Duke of York and Jeffrey Epstein are contained in hundreds of thousands of documents currently being reviewed by the US Congress before they are made public.

David Boies, the high-powered lawyer who represented Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre, says he believes there is enough evidence to open a criminal investigation into the prince.

Andrew vehemently and consistently denied Ms Giuffre’s claims that she was sex-trafficked to him by Epstein.