‘I cleaned Andrew and Sarah’s bed room – his obsessive assortment disturbed me’
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor reportedly left palace staff baffled with his odd requests and expected them to pay particular attention to his mammoth collection of teddy bears and cuddly toys
Andrew with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson(Image: Tim Graham/Getty Images)
Shamed ex-prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had a stuffed toy collection so big it took staff a whole day be trained how to arrange them on his bed, a disturbed former maid said.
The former duke – who yesterday became the first senior royal arrested in modern history – had more than 72 teddies which had to be painstakingly placed in size order each morning. And they then had to be carefully rearranged at night when he was ready for bed.
Charlotte Briggs, who served at Buckingham Palace during the mid-90s, said the while process took an hour every day, describing it as “the most bizarre thing to be paid for.”
She previously told The Sun: “As soon as I got the job, I was told about the teddies and it was drilled into me how he wanted them. I even had a day’s training. Everything had to be just right. It was so peculiar.
“It was so odd. After all, he was a grown man who had served in the Falklands. But he absolutely loved the teddies and was very clear about how he wanted them arranged.”
Staff were given a diagram detailing how to place his cuddly toys around his room and gave instructions on the placement of five of his favourite stuffed animals.
Charlotte remembers that when she worked for Andrew, there were 72 teddies she had to “mess about with every day”.The biggest were put at the back, with the rest placed in decreasing size order down to the smallest at the front
Charlotte claimed Andrew’s two most cherished teddies sat upon mahogany thrones beside his bed while others were dotted at the foot of his four-poster bed in the royal mansion.
The overwhelming majority of stuffed animals wore sailor outfits, complete with uniforms and caps, and originated from across the globe, she said.
Charlotte, then just 21 and one of the Duke’s two maids, had to move them ahead of his bedtime every night. Each teddy had a pre-allocated spot around his luxury bedroom on the nursery floor at the Palace.
The smaller teddies were carefully and neatly stacked in a large unused fireplace close to the bed.
Andrew lived with his former ex-wife Sarah Ferguson at Royal Lodge in Windsor before being booted out by his angry big brother the King over his ties to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
He was said to have kept his suite of rooms at the Palace for overnight stays when he was working in London. And Royal commentator Ingrid Seward suggested Fergie probably slept amongst the cuddly toys during their time together.
Former Royal protection officer Paul Page told a tv documentary the handwritten guide mentioned two toy hippos, a black panther and bears, alongside three cushions labelled ‘Daddy’, ‘Ducks’ and ‘Prince’.
It detailed precisely where to position blankets, plus five toys and a fur, which had ribbons that needed to dangle off the bed’s edge. Andrew would “scream and shout” if his servants failed to place them exactly how he wanted, Paul claimed.
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