On August 9, 2025, the publication of Andrew Lownie’s biography, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, sent fresh shockwaves through the British royal family and the wider world. The book, which took four painstaking years to research and is already a bestseller, peels back the layers of Prince Andrew’s life, exposing a web of scandal, privilege, and poor judgment that has dogged the Duke of York for decades. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and previously undisclosed details, Lownie’s account is as riveting as it is damning, painting a portrait of a man whose choices continue to haunt the monarchy.
According to The New York Post and BBC, Lownie’s biography is unrelenting in its depiction of Prince Andrew as arrogant, entitled, and deeply in denial about his long-standing friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The book’s revelations are not limited to Andrew’s own missteps; it also spotlights his complicated relationship with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, their shared financial woes, and the impact of their actions on the royal family’s reputation. As royal commentator Pauline Maclaran told BBC, “This book appears to seal the fate of Andrew if he was ever hoping to be reinstated officially into the working royals. The public will be wanting to see some clear action on the King’s part I think—particularly as Andrew’s connections to Epstein are raked over again.”
Lownie’s research unearths a trove of eyebrow-raising anecdotes. For instance, Prince Andrew’s stag night reportedly featured comedian Billy Connolly and Sir Elton John, while filmmaker Woody Allen attended a dinner with Andrew at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse. This aligns with a New York Times report noting Allen’s birthday greeting to Epstein referencing “even royalty” at his gatherings. Such details, while almost surreal, serve to underscore the rarefied social circles in which Andrew moved—and the questionable company he kept.
But it’s the darker side of these connections that forms the heart of Lownie’s book. The author meticulously traces Andrew’s relationship with Epstein back to the early 1990s—almost a decade earlier than the prince has publicly admitted. Lownie alleges that Andrew met Epstein through Ghislaine Maxwell around 1989, and that Maxwell was granted special access to Buckingham Palace, with Andrew circumventing security to allow her and, at times, escorts to enter unchecked. “There’s an extraordinary sort of triangular relationship here with Epstein, Ghislaine and Andrew,” Lownie told The New York Post. “Epstein rather liked that. He liked this idea that all three of them were joined.”
The book’s sources are unsparing. Ivan Novikov, Epstein’s personal driver, recalled ferrying Prince Andrew and two young women, both around eighteen, to the Gansevoort Hotel in Manhattan. Novikov claims the women were “doing lines of cocaine” and that Andrew—who is famously a teetotaler—was “making out with one of them.” Meanwhile, an Epstein housekeeper alleged that sex toys and envelopes containing cash—sometimes as much as $25,000—were found in Andrew’s bedroom, left for young women by Epstein. The scale and seediness of Epstein’s world, Lownie suggests, amounted to a blackmail operation, ensnaring powerful figures and leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
Andrew’s own sexual proclivities are described in stark terms. Lownie’s sources claim that Andrew lost his virginity at age 11, an event likened to abuse, and that he has been “obsessed” with women ever since. The book alleges he has had relations with between one thousand and three thousand women, including dozens met through Epstein. “He’s been afforded every type of privilege, all his life, while displaying very poor judgement and getting into highly compromising situations,” Paris-based journalist Peter Allen told BBC.
Andrew’s relationship with Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, receives equally unsparing treatment. Married from 1986 to 1996 but still cohabiting at Royal Lodge, the couple’s partnership is described as “divorced to each other, not from each other.” Ferguson’s financial troubles are legendary, with Lownie alleging that she accepted help from Epstein to pay off debts—amounts that range from $20,000, as she admits, to as much as two million dollars, according to Lownie’s sources. Ferguson herself has said she “deeply regret[s] that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me,” and promised to pay back the money and sever ties.
The Duchess’s own escapades are not spared. She was caught in a notorious 1992 photograph with John Bryan, who was seen sucking her toes, and Lownie claims she pursued crushes on figures such as John F. Kennedy Jr., Tiger Woods, and Kevin Costner—reportedly leaving “raunchy phone messages” for the actor. Her attempts to rebuild her finances have included ghost-written books, reality shows, and a lucrative deal with Hello! magazine worth $134,000 a month. Yet, as BBC notes, Ferguson’s resilience and sense of fun have helped her remain a public figure when others might have faded into obscurity.
Prince Andrew’s professional life has been no less controversial. As the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment from 2001 to 2011, he traveled extensively, meeting with leaders in Libya, Azerbaijan, and Tunisia—often courting scandal along the way. He earned the nickname “Airmiles Andy” for his extravagant expenses and was accused of accepting bribes, including a claim that the Queen was aware of him receiving $5 million in a suitcase. Diplomats dubbed him “His Buffoon Highness” for his gaffes, and his involvement with dubious money-making ventures, from Libyan gun runners to a Chinese spy, only deepened the sense of malaise surrounding his tenure.
The fallout from Andrew’s disastrous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, in which he denied any wrongdoing in the Epstein scandal and claimed not to recall meeting Virginia Giuffre (despite a widely circulated photo of the two together), has been profound. He settled Giuffre’s lawsuit out of court while rejecting any admission of guilt, but the damage to his reputation was done. Historian Ed Owens told BBC that, nearly six years later, Andrew “is still appearing in news stories for all the wrong reasons,” despite efforts by King Charles and Prince William to limit the reputational damage to the monarchy.
Family tensions simmer beneath the surface. Lownie’s sources allege that Prince William and Prince Harry have little affection for their uncle, with one incident in 2013 escalating into a physical altercation between Harry and Andrew—though a spokesperson for Harry has denied this. William, for his part, is said to have “long worked behind the scenes to evict his uncle from Royal Lodge,” and is unlikely to extend any special treatment when he ascends the throne.
Lownie’s biography is not without moments of pathos. He describes Andrew as a lonely and socially awkward figure, his bombast masking deep insecurity and uncertainty about his place in the world. For all his privilege, Andrew emerges as a man who struggled to fit in and ultimately fell in with “the wrong sort of friends.” The book’s meticulous detail and unflinching tone ensure that the scandals surrounding Prince Andrew—and their implications for the royal family—are unlikely to fade from public view anytime soon.
With Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York now on shelves, the royal family faces renewed scrutiny, and the shadow of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes continues to loom large over the House of Windsor. For Prince Andrew, the prospect of redemption seems more distant than ever.
