A royal oversight. Prince Andrew attracted attention when he took to ex—wife Sarah Ferguson’s Instagram to share memories of his time in the service – and used his royal titles despite being banned from doing so.
The 62-year-old Prince took over Ferguson’s social media account on Saturday, April 2, in honor of the 40th anniversary of Andrew’s departure from Portsmouth to the Falklands as a Royal Navy helicopter pilot. (Andrew participated in the Falklands War in a Sea King helicopter.)
The Duke of York, who separated from 62-year-old Ferguson in 1992 after six years of marriage, was asked by his ex-wife to talk about his military experience to mark the occasion in three deleted Instagram posts.
Andrew signed a statement “written by His Royal Highness the Duke of York,” which caused a stir as he was stripped of both his military ranks and royal duties earlier this year amid an alleged sexual abuse scandal.
“I am sitting here at my desk on this cold spring morning, remembering April 1982, and trying to understand what was going on in my head when we sailed from Portsmouth to the crew cabin of HMS INVINCIBLE,” the prince explained. in the first post. “So, while I’m remembering the day when a young man full of bravado went to war, I came back a different person. I put aside childishness and false bravado and returned a man full of knowledge about human weakness and suffering.”
A member of the royal family, who retired from service in 2001 after about two decades, described being shot at during the mission, saying: “I was flying and saw a chaff shell being fired from one of our ships that passed close to us. He was at a steady azimuth for a while before he started moving to our left.”
He recalled the “horror” he witnessed that day, noting that he “had a lasting and permanent influence on me.”
Shortly after Ferguson posted a message on behalf of the former Navy pilot, the caption was changed to remove the “HRH” part from Andrew’s name. A few hours later, the posts were completely removed from the author’s Little Red page.
In the fall of 2019, Andrew made headlines because of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. At the same time, the second eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II was also accused of sexual harassment, which he denies.
Amid the scandal in November 2019, Andrew announced that he was giving up his royal duties for the “foreseeable future” as his relationship with Epstein continues to annoy the crown.
Although the prince has since been seen at several royal events, including the funeral of his father, Prince Philip in April 2021, the ongoing trial of him remains a problem for the royal family. As a result, Buckingham Palace announced in January that, with the “approval and consent” of the Queen, “Andrew’s military affiliation and royal patronage have been returned to the Queen.”
The following month, the father of two, who shares daughter Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie with Ferguson, reached a settlement with his sexual harassment accuser Virginia Giuffre. At the time, he apologized for his ties to Epstein in a letter to a New York court.
After the agreement, Andrew seems to have mended relations with his family, accompanying the 95-year-old Queen from Windsor Castle to Westminster Abbey on March 29 for a memorial service for the late Duke of Edinburgh.
