For more than a decade, Dickie Arbiter served as the trusted press spokesman for Queen Elizabeth II. Throughout his tenure, he encountered the late monarch’s “favourite” son, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, on multiple occasions, and has delivered a scathing assessment of the disgraced royal.
Describing the former prince as a “bully,” Dickie revealed that his role didn’t require extensive interaction with Andrew. He said: “On the odd occasion that I did have dealings with him. He was arrogant, he was rude, and he was bumptious.”
Dickie maintains he was amongst the few royal staff members who stood up to the frequently reported allegations of bullying behaviour.
He remembered receiving a caution from another Palace official, recalling: “I was once told by a colleague ‘Speaking to him like that, you’ll get fired’ and I said, “No, he won’t. He won’t tell anyone. Bullies don’t tell anybody’.”
The former press secretary stated he wasn’t remotely surprised that King Charles had taken steps to remove his younger brother’s various titles and honours. “It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “This has been going on since 2019, since that disastrous Newsnight interview.”
The publication of Andrew Lownie’s damning exposé of the House of York, followed by the late Virginia Guiffre’s heartbreaking memoir Nobody’s Girl, have brought increasingly more allegations regarding Andrew’s behaviour into the public sphere. The former Duke of York has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Dickie believes it was crucial to shield the monarchy from any hint of scandal. “It really was a duty that the King had to push forward,” he explained on Times Radio.
In mid-October, Andrew voluntarily relinquished many of his titles, including Duke of York, stating that the “continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family”.
However, last week the King took further action, “initiating a formal process” to strip Andrew of all his titles, even the title of prince, which he has held since birth.”
His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew,” Buckingham Palace announced in a statement late on Thursday. “Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. “
The same statement clarified that “formal notice’ had been served to evict the 65-year-old former prince – henceforth known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor – from his cherished Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate.
Royal historian Kelly Swaby told the BBC that the specific language used in Buckingham Palace’s statement was “very brutal”.
She said the words had been meticulously selected: “Ordinary people don’t care about the semantics, they want to see punishment, and public opinion is very much against Andrew, the Palace knows that, and the language very much reflects that. “.
In a final blow, the former Duke of York was stripped of his honorary rank of vice-admiral just a week after losing his Royal title of prince.
In return for the Royal Lodge, it is understood that the King has provided a smaller property on the Sandringham estate for his brother, along with a generous annual allowance of £1,000,000.
Although the loss of his titles takes immediate effect, Mr Mountbatten Windsor is not anticipated to relocate to the new property until after Christmas, meaning he will be absent from the traditional Royal Family gathering at Sandringham.
Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, 66, who had been residing in another part of the expansive Royal Lodge, is now expected to arrange her own accommodation.