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I
tried to bully Andrew into kicking Fergie
out of her residence at Royal Lodge—a
demand that placed Andrew in the awt-
ward position of having to choose between
his overbearing father and his over-the-top
ex-wife. He chose her. (Buckingham Pal-
ace would not comment on Prince Philip's
relationship with Andrew or his ex-wife.)
Fergie. who was not invited to the royal
wedding, fled to Thailand. where, she later
told Oprah. "the jungle embraced me"
She added. "I wanted to be there with my
girls—to be getting them dressed and to go
as a family." Shc and Andrew were the last
royals to have been married at Westmin-
ster Abbey. and Fergie kept in touch by
telephone with her a -husband during the
ceremonies for William and Kate. "When
Andrew went with the girls," she recalled.
"we were talking all morning, and he was
saying. 'It's O.K. Just remember, we had
such a good day. Our wedding was so per-
fect' ... Because we're such a unit togeth-
er, he made me feel wry part of the day on
April the 29th."
With a profligate former wife and two
coming-of-age daughters to support, ac-
cording to an insider. Andrew has com-
plained that it's hard to make do on a yearly
stipend of 5408.000. He also receives hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars a year for
travel expenses related to his job. His por-
trayal of himself as a poor relative helps
explain why he and Fergie always seem to
be grubbing for money. and why Fergie—
with Andrew's knowledge—recently sold
her story to Oprah for a six-part reality
series in which Beatrice and Eugenie join
their mother in a teary airing of their woes.
"My understanding is that Prince
Charles was less than happy that Andrew
was given the role of trade envoy back in
2001 after he left the navy," Robert Job-
son, author of Milian: d Kate: 'I7re Low
Story and a royal commentator for NBC
News, told me. "When Charles ascends
the throne—which he will do despite all
the talk to the contrary—he'd like the
royal family to be streamlined; he wants
a smaller, more cost-effective monarchy.
Andrew has made a tremendous effort
to keep Beatrice and Eugenic close to
the Queen in order to assure their future
as fully paid-up members of the Firm, as
the royal family is called. In addition to
their status as royal highnesses, Andrew
has always wanted them to have around-
the-clock security and the rank of work-
ing royals. But if Charles has his way, the
girls will be thrown off the royal payroll
and have to fend for themselves. Many of
Andrew's inexcusable actions—consorting
with rich oligarchs in North Africa. the
Mideast, and the former Soviet Union.
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and begging friends to bail
out Fergie—have been done with his
daughters' welfare in mind." (A Pal-
ace spokesman wouldn't comment
on Charles's intentions with respect
to the princesses.)
Should He Keep His Job?
he phone call from
Sian James of The
Mail on Sunday cre-
ated a 36-hour mael-
strom at Bucking-
ham Palace." a royal
source told me. "At some point dur-
ing those 36 hours. the Queen sum-
moned the Duke of York to a
meeting."
According to several well-
informed individuals, the Queen
was not
nized
that the
story
had the potential to overshadow
the positive media lavished on
the forthcoming wedding of Wil-
liam and Kate. lie Queen asked
Prince Andrew why he had con-
sorted with someone like
Jeffrey Epstein.
whom the F.B.I.
had reportedly
MAO Pater^
linked to about 40
saman
mom Pr
young women. most
of them under-age.
More to the point.
the Queen demand-
ed to know if her son
had any more sur-
prises up his sleeve.
"The duke assured
his mother that he had
no sexual
nshi
with
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