'I dated Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – his true nature is very different to public image' - EUROPE SAYS
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s reputation has taken a bashing in recent years, but not everyone who has met him has had a negative experienceOne friend said Andrew had been ‘ born in the wrong age'(Image: John. . .
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s reputation has taken a bashing in recent years, but not everyone who has met him has had a negative experienceOne friend said Andrew had been ‘ born in the wrong age'(Image: John Stillwell/PA Wire)Since he was effectively cast out by his brother, King Charles III, countless allegations have surfaced regarding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s character. The overwhelming majority have been devastatingly unfavourable. More than one individual who had dealings with the former prince has levelled accusations of arrogance, discourtesy, and a penchant for practical jokes that verge on bullying. However, not everybody who has encountered Andrew holds the same opinion. For the updated edition of Entitled, his explosive exposé of Andrew and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, royal author Andrew Lownie spoke to Ian Hendry, one of the disgraced former Duke’s fellow students at Dartmouth Naval College. The pair became firm friends, and Andrew subsequently became godfather to one of Hendry’s children, never failing to acknowledge a birthday and consistently providing thoughtful presents. Model Kim Deas, who featured among a lengthy list of attractive young women who briefly dated Andrew, had nothing but praise for the former supposed playboy prince. She explained: “People think that because he’s so good-looking he’s not a nice person. But he’s extremely sensitive and kind. He certainly doesn’t live up to his nickname of Randy Andy at all. He’s simply a good friend. ”Andrew was once seen as the royal family’s ‘glamour boy'(Image: Bettmann Archive)Another ex-flame of Andrew’s, Lady Victoria Hervey, was even more forthright in her defence of the late Queen’s second son. Following shocking revelations regarding Andrew’s connection with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, she told LBC that Andrew is simply “a guy” who “needs to date. ”She said: “It’s very hard for anyone to kind of try and imagine being in his shoes. But he’s a male, he’s single, he needs to date. He’s not going to be sitting in a monastery his whole life. ”Lady Victoria maintains that Andrew’s association with Epstein had been entirely innocent: “They’d known each other for a long time at this point and he sort of thought ‘OK, well, he knows beautiful women and, you know, there’s like so many other people out there and no one’s talking about it’. “Lady Victoria Hervey says Andrew has been misjudged(Image: Getty Images for Royal Ascot)Lady Victoria, who is herself referenced more than 20 times in the FBI’s Epstein documents, continued: “If you’re not in those files, it would be an insult because it just means that you were a bit of a loser. ”Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Ian Hendry told Andrew Lownie that in his view Mountbatten-Windsor was simply a man who belongs in a different era: “He was born in the wrong age and would have been happier as an Edwardian gentleman. He puts on his royal hat to protect himself, that’s his veneer. ”However, with that traditional mindset, according to some of his other former Navy colleagues, came a distinctly traditional expectation of respect. . A serviceman at the Royal Naval Air Station at Culdrose in Cornwall characterised Andrew as “a bit toffee-nosed. “. Andrew didn’t conduct himself like others, he remembered: “He wants his own way and when he is around, you have to bow and scrape. Even when he drives round the base in his car, you have to salute that. I mean, fancy saluting a flipping car. ”