World News

Documents about Andrew's time as UK trade envoy 'being kept secret'

Government documents about Prince Andrew’s travel arrangements and meetings during his time as UK trade envoy ‘are being kept secret’ says royal biographer

  • Andrew was the UK’s special representative for trade and investment until 2011 
  • Andrew Lownie claims he has been prevented from seeing details about his trips

Government documents regarding Prince Andrew’s time as UK trade envoy are being kept secret, according to a royal biographer. 

Author Andrew Lownie, who has published books on Lord Mountbatten and the Duke of Windsor, has allegedly been prevented from accessing government information about the Prince of York’s business trips between 2001 and 2011. 

He claimed to have put in a series of requests surrounding details of Andrew’s official communications and information about people who accompanied him during his business trips. 

Lownie told the Telegraph that he thinks the documents are being kept secret to hide the fact ‘there may have been people who really weren’t there to drum up trade for Britain, but were there as chums’. 

The author has submitted several Freedom of Information requests relating to Prince Andrew’s time as the UK’s special representative for trade and investment as part of his research for a biography about the Yorks, which he expects to publish next year.

Documents detailing Prince Andrew’s (pictured centre during a trip to Mexico City in 2010) travel arrangements during his time as UK trade envoy are being kept secret, according to a royal biographer

Author Andrew Lownie (pictured), who has published books on Lord Mountbatten and the Duke of Windsor, has allegedly been prevented from accessing government information about the Prince of York’s business trips between 2001 and 2011

Lownie told The Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast: ‘Andrew was not always using the embassy (when travelling on business). He was going off and using hotels.’

‘I’m a great believer that if we’re to tell the story of our history properly, we have to have access to the documents, not just the ones the Government chooses to show us.’

Prince Andrew’s time as UK trade envoy ended in 2011 when he was forced to resign after a photo emerged of him and Jeffrey Epstein walking together in Central Park in New York. 

The convicted paedophile had recently been released from jail following an 18 month prison sentence for sexual offences in 2008. 

Source: Read Full Article