Prince Andrew and the friendship that cost him everything

As the great bard Shakespeare once wrote, “The prince of darkness is a gentleman.” But in the case of Prince Andrew, it seems that even the most well-mannered of facades can hide a multitude of sins.

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a sense of entitlement that could rival a toddler’s, Prince Andrew was living the dream. It’s almost impressive, really, how spectacularly he’s managed to botch things up. The once-beloved Duke of York, who was known for his dashing good looks and questionable taste in friends, found himself in the hot seat after his infamous BBC Newsnight interview in 2019. 

The interview, now immortalized in the Netflix drama Scoop, was supposed to be a chance for Andrew to clear his name and defend his friendship with the late Jeffrey Epstein. In the interview, Andrew claimed that he was just too honorable to cut ties with Epstein, even after the man was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Because apparently, being a loyal friend means turning a blind eye to some pretty heinous crimes. Yes, we’ve all had that one mate who’s a bit of a loose cannon. But when your buddy is a convicted sex offender, it might be time to reevaluate your social circle.

The fallout

As you can imagine, the interview didn’t exactly help Prince Andrew’s case. In fact, it was so disastrous that he had to step back from his royal duties “for the foreseeable future.” Translation: The royal family wanted to distance themselves from this dumpster fire as quickly as possible.  The Queen herself was reportedly none too pleased with her son’s behavior, and he was swiftly stripped of his royal duties.

But just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, along comes Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers, who filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2021, alleging that he sexually assaulted her when she was a minor. So, the consequences didn’t stop there. The prince was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages, and his own mother, the late Queen, announced that he would no longer be known as “His Royal Highness.”

Andrew settled the lawsuit out of court in early 2022, reportedly paying Giuffre a substantial sum to drop the case. The settlement was a clear admission of guilt in the court of public opinion, and the once-proud prince was reduced to a mere footnote in the annals of royal history.

This is perhaps one of the best examples that no matter how many fancy titles you have or how much money you’re worth, you can’t escape the consequences of your actions. And if you do try to escape, you might just end up like Andrew: alone, disgraced, and with a collection of pizza-themed ties that nobody wants to see.