Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Biography

Andrew was born at Buckingham Palace in 1960, the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. He was educated at Heatherdown School and Gordonstoun, with a term at Lakefield College School in Canada, and joined the Royal Navy in 1979, training at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and as a helicopter pilot.

He flew Sea King helicopters from HMS Invincible during the 1982 Falklands War and remained in the navy until 2001, later working as a helicopter instructor and commanding a warship. In 1986 he married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey and was created Duke of York; they had two daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, and divorced in 1996.

From 2001 to 2011 he served as the United Kingdom's special representative for international trade and investment, a post he gave up after scrutiny of his expenses and his links to controversial figures, including the financier Jeffrey Epstein. Virginia Giuffre alleged that Epstein had trafficked her to Andrew; he denied it, gave a widely criticised television interview in 2019 and withdrew from public duties, and in 2022 settled her civil lawsuit in New York without admitting liability.

Elizabeth II removed his military affiliations and patronages in 2022, and in 2025 Charles III stripped him of his remaining royal titles and honours. In February 2026 he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and released under investigation.