Andrew Windsor made ‘gratuitously impolite touch upon a piece journey – I used to be surprised’
Former UK diplomat Sir Ivor Roberts has claimed Prince Andrew made a ‘gratuitously rude’ comment to a prominent Italian fashion family during a 2004 trip to Florence
Sir Ivor Roberts claims Andrew insulted a member of an Italian fashion house(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
A former diplomat has alleged that Prince Andrew once made a “gratuitously rude” remark to a renowned family. In recent weeks, the ex-prince’s tenure as special representative for international trade and investment has come under increasing scrutiny, with retired civil servants claiming that taxpayers covered his massage expenses and excessive travel costs.
This follows his arrest by Thames Valley Police last month on suspicion of misconduct in public office on his 66th birthday, after being accused of sharing sensitive information with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
He spent 11 hours in police custody last month whilst officers searched his home on the Sandringham Estate. Andrew, who continues to deny any wrongdoing, was released under investigation.
In a recent revelation about his time as trade envoy, the UK’s ambassador to Italy from 2003 to 2006 has claimed that the disgraced royal offended a member of a prominent Italian fashion house.
The alleged slight reportedly took place in 2004 during a visit to Florence, where Sir Ivor Roberts claims that, when introduced to a member of the Schiaparelli family, Andrew responded: “I’ve never heard of you.”, reports the Mirror.
Speaking in The i Paper, Sir Ivor added: “It was just gratuitously rude.”
Born in 1890, fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli came from a distinguished family of aristocrats and intellectuals – her father directed the Lincei library, and her mother traced her lineage back to the powerful Medici banking dynasty.
Recognised as a provocateur, Elsa’s creations “incorporate humour and surprise”, according to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Indeed, she experimented with “subversive details” and the imagery of the Surrealist movement.
In related news, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently revealed one of Andrew’s proposals from his tenure as UK trade envoy.
In a recent column for the Daily Mail, Boris claimed that Andrew wanted to “knock down” Battersea Power Station, a Grade II-listed “architectural masterpiece” located on the south bank of the River Thames.
Boris wrote: “The Duke of York had a series of ideas, perhaps gleaned from some of his international contacts, about how we could make London even more attractive to the world’s billionaire investors.
“Bear in mind that this was back in the good old days, before Starmer’s Pol Pot war on wealth creators. London at the time had more billionaires than any other city in the world.
“But the Duke thought that we could do better. Look at Battersea Power Station, he said. It was an eyesore, a ruin. It was blocking the development of a huge and potentially lucrative site at Vauxhall. Why don’t we just knock it down,’ he said.”
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