Transcription
We now have um Grace, an American legislator, now saying after seeing some of the victims that she thinks that Andrew should be in handcuffs.
Welcome, Andrew Looney. And I must congratulate you on the outstanding success of your book. You must be thrilled.
Well, it has been. I've been very lucky. The the news agenda seems to be running in parallel. So we had first Gain Maxwell with her her testimony and then we've had clearly the fight to get the Epstein files released. So that all has been very helpful. Yeah. But yeah, I think also what what struck me is, you know, it's sort of lit a a torch paper really. People I think have been very angry about some of the things going on. They didn't really know where to channel their anger. A lot of people have come forward as a result of the book. Almost every day I get people with news stories and these are senior people. I mean, former employees um uh coming forward with with more material. Uh and it's actually even more shocking, I have to say, than than one realized. Um so, yeah, I mean, it it's I mean, I just hope that u that other journalists and writers will begin to poke around in this era because I think there's still a lot more to be discovered.
There is so much to be discovered in the book and that's what I want to get to in this video. And I sort of want to slow it down a bit and really dig in to certain stories because I think you provide so much information that it people could almost get overwhelmed with the level of corruption and its scope. So I wanted to start off with uh Salman Turks and now this is really interesting because a lot of people say oh it's all old news you know that that defense this was in 2022 so only three years ago these really startling revelations came out.
Yes. And actually the Selman Turk thing was the thing that we had most trouble with with the lawyers. A lot of material was taken out so I have to be slightly careful what I say. Um uh yeah, an enormous amount of material was taken out. But I mean the background to this is a high court case uh in 2022 uh a woman a Turkish millionaire had given um4 million pounds to um uh a banker called Selman Turk who I interviewed actually for the book uh to basically get money out of Turkey. And this money had disappeared. And what emerged in the course of this high court action, which was really between the two of them, was that over a million pounds had been paid to the Duke of York, uh, Sarah Ferguson and his daughter. Monies that they weren't able to explain. I mean, the papers really didn't cover the story, interestingly enough. The Mail briefly, and they had 10 questions that needed to be answered, which of course were not answered. The Telegraph briefly, and Bloomberg, but no one else touched it. There seems to have been an agreement between the Yorks and Mrs. Iselburn to to shut down the story. None of the lawyers would would talk to me. No, no one would talk to me. And I mean when some Turk talk Turk talked to me, uh there was nothing there I could really use, shall we say. Um but this this large sums of money were paid to them. £750,000 to the Duke of York ostensibly for she believed that the the Turkish millinireys for getting him a British getting her a British passport. Now clearly it's that's not in his power in any case. Now he repaid that money but there was £350,000 that he did not repay. £250,000 was paid to it's a complicated story I'm afraid but was paid to Sarah Ferguson. Ostensibly uh it was said because the explanations kept changing and were never consistent from something called Alphabet Capital and it was for being a brand ambassador for a solar energy company called Pegasus. Uh again, no one in Pegasus would talk to me. Uh interesting to know why she should be a brand ambassador for a solar energy company abroad. Continued to try and dig into this story to try and find out more. I tried to contact some of the people in the states involved with Pegasus. No one would would talk. So, it's not clear exactly what Sarah Ferguson did for them. Um uh and these are quite large sums of money. Um Turk claimed that he knew um um Sarah quite well and yet we've uncovered correspondence where she introduces herself as a friend of Tariq and saying you must have come across to Royal Lodge for dinner. Um Tara Katuni and Turk were certainly entertained um at various royal residences by the Yorks uh we think about 20 times. And one of the other interesting things is that Turk was living in crown estate property. Now, how did that come about? So, this story, you know, hopefully has more to emerge. But, you know, while no one is talking, uh, it's it's very difficult to to find out exactly what's going on. All I can say is the whole thing stinks.
It sure does. And you talked to Salman Turk, you said. Now, was he full of grievance? Was he was he, you know, prepared to throw anyone under the bus or was he just spinning you?
No, really. He just spun me. He was very charming. Um uh and but interestingly enough, I had my conversation with him. I didn't use any of his material. I then uh talked to his defense uh barister and there was some material which defense barer said could possibly be shown. Uh and Turk refused to to let me see it.
So, one wonders why why was he and this was from his defense people. Why wouldn't he show it?
Um I also wanted to sort of backtrack just a little bit because it was the Duke of York's office that provided the excuse that the £750,000 was for the wedding and uh that's extraordinary because it was a wedding with 20 guests and like you say how ridiculous £750,000. I want to delve into the fact that that obviously weak excuse, these murky allegations and yet there was nothing, no formal investigation, no followup. How can that be?
Well, I mean, I think the problem is no one none of the British authorities want to touch the Duke of of York um and his activities and he knows he's protected. So, we we've had this problem all the way through. Um, you know, I I know that he has been taking various people on these special trade envoy trips, including Jeffrey Epstein, his daughters, uh, and uh, David and Jonathan Ruins, who I'm sure we'll talk about. And yet, um, uh, we're not allowed to see these papers. We're not allowed to to know who went on these trips, who they saw, what they did, even though they were taxpayer funded trips. And these papers should be in the public archives. uh and for four years they've used every possible excuse not to release these papers. Um so that raises questions but you're absolutely right. I mean people have I mean the MPs 20 years ago were saying that the National Crime Agency should be investigating Andrew and yet nothing was done. I've offered the National Crime Agency material that didn't go into the book of um commissions being paid to Andrew in Kazakhstan. Large sums $5 million. Uh nothing has happened. Uh the Metropolitan Police were approached by countless people including the the Virginia Gifrey Channel 4 News and the head the former head of Royal Security Davis and nothing was done. I put in information requests to the Metropolitan Police to ask whether there had been any investigations into Andrew. Uh and uh they refuse to confirm or deny which is normally a sign that they they don't want to answer that question. We now have um Grace, an American legislator, now saying after seeing some of the victims that she thinks that Andrew should be in handcuffs.
I just think that the problem is with the National Crime Authority. I mean, they're not taking any action. So, should they be looked into? Should there be a government inquiry into the the workings of the National Crime Authority? And and the very, you know, natural question, why aren't you investigating these things? because no one should be above the law. Clearly, if you're a member of the royal family, you are. That's not acceptable to anybody. So, why don't they look into the investigating body and ask them why they're not investigating?
Well, it's a good question. I mean, it needs pressure from the media and it needs pressure from parliamentarians and neither of them seem to have the stomach for this. Um, you've got to remember that some of the proprietors of the media firms are close personal friends with the royals. The royals are very good about putting their own people uh or taking people from newspapers and employing them. So for example, Tobin Andre, the king's uh press secretary is a former Daily Mail executive uh that Lord Rother is uh very friendly with with members of the royal family. And so there there's you know the media will go so far but that's it. I mean you're right foreign media perhaps should look at it and I think you know papers like Bloomberg uh should be looking at this. Um the parliamentarians again there's a there's a convention that parliament is not allowed to ask questions about the royal family even about things like this uh and that has never really been challenged. If you ask questions in the in the vote office um you're just not allowed to ask the question they won't let you give it. So um you know there needs to be lots more reform before there can be any proper scrutiny of the royals. Um and there just cozy arrangements going on the whole time. Clearly what happened in this court case with Sman Turk is the Yorks got in touch with Mrs. Isbellen and said keep us out of this. Uh and some agreement was made um to to to basically uh prevent them being covered. And all the papers in the coverage was very careful to say that there's no wrongdoing by the members of the royal family. Well, there clearly was wrongdoing. Um you know, they were receiving money that they couldn't explain. um uh and uh for things that they shouldn't really be doing. Uh so it is a real problem. Everything is shut down in terms of investigation. Um and um I don't know what the answer is. I mean I've tried to get parliamentary uh committees to look at some things. For example, the Duke's time special trade envoy. I think that needs to be looked at. We need to get ambassadors actually giving testimony on oath. people who refuse to talk to me but the ambassadors for example in Kazakhstan, Abaijan uh and elsewhere Mongolia know lots of things which uh I think you know are in the public interest to come out. Uh uh there are politicians who know exactly what was going on. Um so for example Jack Straw uh who was a former Labour foreign secretary said that he only had one dealing with with Andrew and that was over Turkey. Well I know that he had extensive dealings with with Andrew. That's just not the truth. Um, uh, other people, Pat Peter Mandlesson, uh, the British ambassador in Washington, very close to Epstein, very close to Andrew. The two were actually, uh, the witnesses at Evelyn Rothschild and Lyn Forers's wedding.
Uh, um, and uh, Mandlesson was instrumental in getting Andrew that job as trade envoy. But Mandlesson, there are big questions over his involvement, what he was doing, particularly in places like Libya. But again, no one wants to touch this. Um, but I was surprised that he was appointed to that role given the skeletons in his closet. He's already had to resign twice over scandals.
Right.
So, I'm afraid there's something rotten in the state of Denmark.
I think you've clearly illustrated that. Also, the fact that it would need sort of some sort of impetus from Parliament. Does that indicate that the rot is very much um in the British establishment, not just the Yorks? like it's spread throughout the whole thing. I mean, is everyone making money out of this these sort of scams and these under the radar financial deals?
Well, I think the blind eye is being turned to what's going on um and it's just accepted and we've clearly have scandals here of of politicians profiting from PP uh protective clothing uh um contracts during COVID. But for example, William Hey, who is now Chancellor of Oxford University, former uh conservative foreign secretary. I spoke to a close friend of his and said, "Why won't he talk to me? He knows an awful lot." And she said, "Well, he's just been made private adviser to the Prince and Princess of Wales. It would be embarrassing for him to talk." And that's how they do it. A mixture of patronage and and and pressure. Um, so yeah, I mean, you know, I think people have got lots of people have got their noses in the trough. Uh, and no one really wants to to break rank uh while they're all having a great time.
You mentioned Alphabet Capital and that fascinates me because the facts of that are that it's a dormant company with zero staff. Now, uh, Mrs. Ishbalan solicitor said there was strong evidence that it was used as a front to pay Sarah and Prince Andrew. Now, where is this strong evidence? If there's strong evidence, surely that can be handed over to the National Crime Authority. I know I'm sort of beating a dead horse here, but there is evidence out there that if anyone was willing to seriously investigate this, there's there's avenues to go and find information, isn't there?
Yes, there are. Oh, I mean, Jonathan Tikner, who was this the the barristister and who made that claim, uh uh uh wouldn't talk to me. I've tried him several times and indeed other members on this on on the team. Uh and in fact, we the Collins made me take out that entry for entity uh from the book. Um uh I I'm pretty sure um even though it was in the statement because it was an introductory statement and their claim was that it's we we don't know what the conclusion was. The problem is we don't know exactly what happened in these cases. I mean because they they they're sort of still ongoing. Uh I think some of them or somehow they've been closed down and they haven't been reported. There no legal reports. Uh there's no press coverage. So the whole thing just kind of disappeared. uh and if no one's talking, it's really difficult to find out what's going on. But you're absolutely right, there is material there that could be passed the authorities. Um uh countless u bits of material. Uh there's a case, I'm sure we'll talk about with Gate Ventures and Sarah Ferguson again where investors were defrauded of money uh monies that were paid to the Yorks without any proper explanation. Um and yet nothing has happened there. Um I think every people are slightly scared of of liel actions. I mean you know they um the Yorks have a very very expensive PR and legal operation and they threaten people uh and um you know ostensibly on the surface never complain, never explain uh we let it wash over us. But actually behind the scenes they're very very powerful in trying to suppress stories. Uh and it's very interesting for example that several of my interviews with Vantair for example in the states and here with Tatler uh the journalist said I'm sorry we we've just the bosses said we can't run these interviews. Um and those are ones that I've been already done. So who knows what other interviews never happened in the first place. I know that media news media organizations were being approached not to talk to me when the book first came out. Um,
I'm surprised they still have that much punch. Uh, particularly as far as court cases and, you know, threatening legal things because wouldn't they be very frightened of what would come out in discovery?
Well, exactly. And that's why I'm only too happy to go to court if anyone was to sue me because of discovery. You know, I'm I'm pretty sure of my sources. Uh, and it would just uncover a can of worms. And it's interesting that Sarah Ferguson has threatened uh countless times to take people to court. Most um most obviously the the fake shake when she was caught in the sting operation sending access to her husband, but when it came to it, she didn't actually pursue it, even though her lawyer claimed that there was a settlement. Um I actually talked to to to the News of the World. So, you know, again, they just put out false stories about what's happened and they create this completely false narrative.
Yeah. when mentioning the news of the world that fascinated me in the book because we thought we knew that story and we thought that it was sort of a one-off sting and you know let's face it news of the world's got a really bad reputation so I don't think that got the legs that it deserved at the time because they were actually following up something quite worthwhile they were following up a pattern of behavior and they actually said to you that there had been two previous incidents where Sarah had you know offered access to Andrew for cash. So the sting was put in place to catch her in this pattern. Now if they knew of well they claimed to have know allegedly to know to uh then you would assume that there might have been this might have been going on for years and years and years. I mean it could literally have been how they made their money, couldn't it?
Well I think it's one of the ways that they were making their money. I mean you know they clearly operate very much together. I call them Bonnie and Clyde. you know, they they talk five times a day to each other. Um, and you know, one doesn't do anything without the other knowing about it, and that's why they're sort of joined at the hip. But I did I did interview, for example, lawyers at the News the World in the hope that they might reveal stuff, but again, people either can't remember conveniently or it's confidential. Uh, but absolutely this was a patent, which is why the News of the World were tipped off to do this. And I understand that actually there's further footage of the interview with her where actually the the more incriminating things that she does says and does uh which um um I wasn't able to put in the book but uh there were two people at the interview uh uh Massud uh and uh a man called Conrad Brown. And I introdu interviewed Conrad Brown. So this was all taped. I mean, this was why, you know, she kept changing her story saying that it was all, you know, the tape had been sort of changed, etc. But, you know, there's hard evidence of her selling access to Andrew. And there are lots of other stories I picked up from other people. This this is it's not just the news of the world. I picked up stories separately about this going on. Um,
well, also it said that she said that Andrew suggested to ask for the £500,000. Then that was one of the stories she changed at a later date and she said, "Oh no, he knew nothing about it." Obviously pressure was put on her to come out with that statement. If she hadn't have changed to that, if she hadn't have let him off the hook and said he knew nothing about it, would he have been susceptible to some sort of um criminal prosecution for the fact of um using his position as a royal in order to produce benefit for people and he's suggesting the amount of money is is isn't that criminal?
Well, it's interesting you raise this. I know that Republic are looking at um a case that could be brought against him uh for profiting from a public role. Uh and um uh I think they they're actually taking legal advice at the moment about whether there's a case there. I've offered to give them information uh that I picked up that wasn't in the book. Um uh so uh yes I mean one of the problems is is I know for example the queen was brought various allegations by members of the intelligence services about Andrew's financial activities and she basically told him to get lost uh um uh and uh I know that from a member of the royal household. Now whether he will go public and talk about that uh is another matter. Um
that's the problem isn't it is people going public and talking about things.
Exactly.
And and if they did, um, all of this would I think it's almost like, you know, when you pull the piece of wool, it's almost like a jumper unreing before your eyes. It would only need someone to sort of start it off
and pull on that string.
And well, exactly. It's sort of what's happening with Epstein at the moment. You know, the line with Epste, you know, it's now beginning to emerge as the victims come forward. You know, just what a huge operation this was. you know, the number of women who were young girls who were trafficked uh and were traumatized by their experiences and the number of men involved. Uh and so, you know, I hope in the way that that I hope that the Epstein scandal will will unravel that we will have a much clearer idea of of what's going on
uh with royal finances.
Yes. Yes. I think it would be wonderful if the whole thing unraveled. That would be reason for celebration. In the book, the timeline is really interesting because we've got this, for example, the news of the world sting. And then four years later, you've got Fergie back in the royal box at Royal Ascuit and then, you know, you've got her being invited to Windsor for a birthday party and all this sort of thing. And that's what shocks me the most, the the willingness of the royal family to overlook. I mean to in my mind if someone had have been caught selling access for £500,000 and drunk and you know just the whole thing. I wouldn't have anything more to do with her if I was, you know, the royal family because wow, great way to sell your brand. So yet they're giving her these privileges like the royal box and all that. 4 years after this event. Is it stupidity? Is it complicity? Or is it just that she has so much on them that they have to play ball?
It's fear. Uh she's very very manipulative. She's very good at playing people. So for example, William is very against her. I mean clearly Philip is very against her. But she works on people like Camila. She works on people like Charles. Uh and there she is back in the royal box at Wimbledon this this summer having been banned from going to to Sanding at Christmas. So I think the thing is she works on them. She she I'm speculate that you know there are veiled threats in the way that you know one of the themes of the book is the veiled threats made through her or John Brian or others that they will really spill the beans. Uh and therefore you know best to keep them close both of them. Um and that's they they walk this tight rope. Um, you know that there's speculation. I mean, there's been leaks to the press that, you know, there's been a summit at Balmor Moral and they're talking as a result of my book about what they can do. That's all window dressing. Nothing will happen. Nothing will change. They'll just hope that the the caravan moves on and they can get on with behaving exactly the same way.
Well, that's how they always act. They always hope for the caravan to move on. And unfortunately, the caravan does move on. I know I expressed to you how disillusioned I was because, you know, you'd have to be an idiot to read this book and not react to it. I mean, if you had any moral compass at all, you would have to react to this book and say, "This is not okay." So, the disillusionment I feel is now there's no action. And I can't, you know, say the royal family was above board, right? They would, I would think, encourage an independent inquiry uh to unlock all of this. They would make the files available for when Andrew was special representative of trade and they would say, "Look, obviously things have gone on that are, you know, very bad and we should clean all this up moving forward." But they're not going to do that because I suspect they're very intertwined with the whole thing. Would that be a fair comment?
Yes. I mean, you know, I I think the problem is that other members of the royal family, including King Charles, you know, have had cash for honors. You know, we we've had lots of stories of of money in plastic bags to pay for Dumpreyy's house. Uh and um you know, I think once, as you say, one string gets unraveled, uh the whole the whole kaboodleoodle collapses.
But you're right. I mean, you know, clean out the the stables and let's start a fresh because it does undermine the work that they do and the trust in them and the trust in the institution. And I mean my argument always has been that if you want the institution to survive it has to be squeaky clean. Uh uh and um you know people are no longer prepared to to to put up with with coverups. Um I think the thing is people do jump up and down on social media and say it's awful but no one feels that they have much power uh and you know until the authorities and uh you know do something uh and and that is both parliament and the the the law enforcement agencies and indeed the media are more prepared to be a bit tougher. nothing is going to happen and as long as they can keep, you know, keep the keep the the United Front basically shutting down anyone from talking. You know, we see it with Trump and and and Epstein. You know, they they've tried their best to suppress the files to to, you know, um prevent them being released to to to to dry clean them. Uh and you know, fortunately there are people who keep keep pushing and you know, there are cracks and hopefully it will break and and hopefully that will happen with the royal family. But at the moment I I sort of feel I'm pretty much a lone voice here. Uh and you know what they do is they they try and uh marginalize people who speak out. Um uh and if more people raise their head above the parapit then we might see some change. Um because they
um oh sorry
yeah because I I think they are slightly in last chance saloon at the moment. H sorry to interrupt but um I was thinking that I said to Tom Sykes are there a lot of people that know a lot of things that could back up things in your book. Um and he made the distinction that you know it's well he didn't say it was easier but he made the distinction that as far as sort of legal reaction it's probably easier to write it as a book than to be a journalist ringing up and saying you know and then they'll refute it and then you can't print it. I thought that was a really interesting distinction.
Yes.
But he didn't he he's right there, but he didn't really convince me because there are a lot of people that know a lot of this and they're just not speaking.
No, absolutely. And I mean, you know, I've gone back since the book came out, uh, approaching people saying, you know, would have you read the book? Would you like a copy? Are there things that could be corrected? Uh, are you prepared, you know, perhaps in the light of this? And so one or two people have come back. For example, diplomats have said that they're prepared to go on the record now because they've seen how many people did go on the recording,
which is good. Yeah.
Um but also, you know, a lot of people are still keeping I mean actually one of the former cons team at Bucking Palace got in touch with me and I thought this is good. Uh and it was only to complain about his name being mentioned. Um so um uh and I thought well maybe there's a deal here. I could take your name out and you might tell me some stuff. But you know, I have a case separately wearing my agent's hat where I'm selling it. An author of mine has written a book on royal finances and his regular publisher Bloomsbury have decided not to publish the book because of what they call royal sensitivities. Uh and I asked him what's what is that about? And he said that the the uh chairman wants a K uh a knighthood. Um and so you see just how how differential we still are in this country. Um, you know, this is a very successful publisher who uh, you know, has a lot, you know, an extraordinary achievement in building Bloomsbury who still wants to be called Sir.
Wow. That's so disappointing,
isn't it? It's just and I can't really understand it. The Rolands, I want to get on to that. uh Prince Andrew helped to fulfill their goal of opening a Middle Eastern banking operation and this was while he was in his position as special representative of trade. Now there's so much about that which I will get on to but initially Amanda Thursk handed Roland a foreign office diplomatic cable intended for government ties only. So I would say that you could prosecute over that, couldn't you?
Absolutely. Yes. Uh I mean uh uh funny enough my father was a judge to prosecute in fact my employer when I was in publishing for actually just uh or his brother for leaving a document in a taxi by mistake. Uh um uh so absolutely I mean they could um uh bring charges um but I'm afraid you know it's they just turn a blind eye. But you're absolutely right. This has all been I mean you know documented in the book and indeed some of this has appeared in the papers uh um and of course this this banking license was fasttracked by a former private secretary of um the Duke um uh and he has his placement Amanda Thurk has has got a job with Chinese companies that are doing business with with Andrew. So you know he's got his his teams lined up you know lined up in various places.
M sure has it's quite an operation isn't it? So he had a 40% stake in Invenesse Asset Management. Now this was owned by the Rolands Blackfish Capital Management. Now this is where Andrew mentioned that Invenesse uh asset management could be used for Qatar's interested in a property deal with his brother Charles. And that's what sort of led me to think and I think you intended that in the book for us to think that you know their finances could be very much intertwined. If I was to give King Charles III the benefit of the doubt and say okay he will act once he extracts his financial affairs from Andrew's financial affairs or is that just too polyiana?
Well, I mean, we've got to remember this is this is a boast of David Roland. Um, and it may not be true, but um but because it seems very foolish for for Charles to be involved, but we do know that the Queen uh for example had a lot of offshore investments. The Panama Papers revealed that. And so, the royal family are not squeaky clean with their investments. I mean, they will say that it's an armslength relationship. They don't know. These are blind trusts. But, uh you you're you're right. I mean, if if if Charles isn't involved with Andrew or can separate his his interests, uh, then um something should be done. I mean, we've got to remember that the Roland were entertained to tea at Balmoral by the Queen and Charles. So, they certainly know who the Rolands are. Um, uh, and so the suggestion or the inference is that perhaps there's a closer relationship that Romans have. I think ruins talk about being um uh um um financiers to the whole of the royal family, not just to Andrew. So uh you know again the ruins have never spoken. It's it's a very good technique um because you know in some ways it shuts the story down but it does of course raise question
their whole business would rely on not talking.
I mean exactly.
Yeah. Yeah. So Andrew opened a private bank in Luxembourg. Now, you mentioned money laundering before, and this is this is a point where, you know, there's something provable because that bank was actually fined £4 million for not having safeguards in place to protect against money laundering. So, you know, not making up stuff there. That's a matter of record. Also, their license to trade in most of Europe was removed. Now, this is the same bank that Prince Andrew is drawing in the realm of £125,000 a month. Then he goes for a $1.5 million loan and that's mysteriously paid back for him very early and it was money transferred to him from another company that the Rolands owned. again, are they only getting away with this because the royals are exempt from any form of uh financial auditing, any form of, you know, taxation audits or anything like that? Would would would you get away with this with that if you didn't have royal protection?
No, absolutely not. Uh and this is one of the, you know, the concerns that royal finances are very opaque. Um uh and um it's smoke and mirrors. you know, they will claim that they are open and and and and release stuff about the Dutch Lancaster or um uh Cornwall, but uh we have no idea how wealth is transferred between members of the family, what they're doing, what their investments are, uh how they operate. Um and even if it we had sort of three wise men that we could trust to look at this in confidence, um that might be something. But there's nothing they can do exactly what they want and and two fingers to everyone else. So nothing will ever change unless there is that transparency.
If they if they were under the same rules as everybody else because I mean let's face it I mean someone like Rbert Murdoch you know maintains his privacy in regard to a lot of his own investments cuz there's ways to tie these things up so they don't become a matter of public record and that's you know within the realms of the law. So if they were just subject to normal taxation laws that any big company would be subject to, that would be a step forward, wouldn't it?
Yes, it would. It would. I mean, you know, Sarah Ferguson's tax affairs were so complicated, she didn't even understand them herself, though. there were so many cutouts operating in so many different sort of shady uh um bits of the world, taxree bits of the world that she didn't even know who owned some of the companies that she'd set up. Uh and that and of course at one point she wanted to go to to Switzerland u you know to get around some of these tax things. But you you know she is the first halfin first out royal. I mean, she's managed for 30 years to to stick in with the royals and to to to to to monetize her position and make huge sums of money as a result of her position. You know, in some ways, I feel sorry for Megan Markle because Fergie's been doing it for a lot longer and clearly a lot more successfully than than Megan
and on a much much larger scale. Uh, huge. I mean, she might be richer than she realizes because if she's lost track of all these companies. I mean, she might have a lot more money that she didn't even realize she had.
How much do you think they're worth? The Yorks, if you had to hazard a guess,
it's impossible to say. We just don't know. I mean, royal wills are sealed, so we don't know what was passed to him, for example, from his grandmother. Uh, what the queen may have paid. I mean, she would have made sure that Andrew was okay. Um, we don't know the sums of money that are given to them from their contacts in the Middle East, for example. I mean, one of the things that emerged was that Andrew had was trying to sell Sunning Hill his house to various Arab rulers. Uh, he uh annoyed the Sultan of Oman by trying to catch money off him, which actually caused a diplomatic incident. Two separate ambassadors uh said that they actually had a lot of work to try and basically soothe some feathers there. So um you know so who knows what what's been done and you know there are plenties they've got very strong connections in the Middle East these connections have been passed on to their daughters they've in some ways picked up the baton and are carrying on the family business uh and so we have no idea I mean someone sent me the other day a picture of this palace in Abu Dhabi uh and um which is kept permanently staffed ready for him at any time uh it's by the min palace uh and That's the only one of the things that we know about. You know, we keep getting these little fragments of the jigsaw puzzle and you know, eventually the puzzle gets gets a little bit more complete, but there's still lots and lots of missing pieces.
Is there any extradition treaty with Abu Dhabi? Like, would he have to come back if he was charged with anything if he was in his palace?
Uh, well, I I don't know, but I think it's very unlikely. And I mean certainly you know the Duke of Windsor was sent into exile and you know a very convenient solution for Andrew would be to go to somewhere like Abu Dhabi you know good weather uh privacy u golf courses um subservient you know he would be treated in the way he likes to be treated whether Sarah Ferguson would go with him too is another question. Uh and I think the really interesting question now is you know he's finished but is she going to be the comeback kid once again? I'm hoping she will, unfortunately. I I just can't believe what she gets away with is gobbles smacking. Um, yeah. Well, I don't know what's going to happen. I think it would probably just rely, like you say, on people applying pressure, people not letting it go. Um, I often wonder, you know, whether all these things if they were put into little sound bites and they were put up on the internet that in sort of small digestible chunks that people might be able to sort of latch on to them more, maybe the the attention span's going amongst audience. So, because there's so much here. One final question. Obviously they've, you know, they've owed people money and obviously people have had enough at different points and they've, you know, taken them to court and things like that. So they must be still keeping a certain amount of people happy because otherwise you would think things would start to come out. So that indicates to me it's obviously still an operation running uh because otherwise you would think there'd be more cracks.
Yes. No, it's interesting. Well, quite a lot of the people who've come forward to me are people who clearly have got, you know, weren't paid. You know, people, for example, ball gowns that were were were never paid for. Um, uh, charities that were never paid. Um, uh, but there's still this merger. I mean, one of the people who wasn't paid, uh, an artist, um, I talked to, uh, and she still socializes with them. She's sort of, you know, wants to move on. she doesn't want to be cut out from their circles because once you kind of speak out that then you get sent to Coventry and and and you know the whole gang won't talk to you. So I think people just put up with it. They just accept that's that's the price to be paid uh and put it down to experience and so they know they can get away with that. Um or people, you know, clearly within their their um um circles are upset. For example, I was on a um um a Facebook page, a closed Facebook page for the Navy, which I as been Navy before, I was able to look at and someone had asked about Andrew and what it was like to serve with him, and 181 people had replied, of which 180 had critical comments about him. So, I wrote all 180 uh uh and thought, well, at least someone will come forward. I made the point that I'd also served >> and not a single person responded. There is even though within those close circles they may talk the last thing they want even talk to someone like me in confidence you know they won't talk and that's what's saved them time and time again. But you're right, it just needs, you know, if Amanda Thurk was to talk, I mean, that would be the end of it. Or one of the other private secretaries or one of the foreign secretaries or um the ambassadors in Azabaijan and Kazakhstan um uh or or or other members of the royal household. I mean, I have one source, but um not with access to this sort of material.
Um then we would then maybe the whole thing would come down. But but but you know there are enough there are enough sick fans around who will obviously pop up.
Hopefully they will see this video and they will be moved to tell the truth. That would be great if we could inspire that. Thank you so much Andrew for joining me today and going through just this is really just the tip of the iceberg in this book. So, I encourage everybody who if you haven't actually purchased a book yet, which I think most people have, but if they haven't, please get it and support Andrew in his work because like he said, it can get pretty lonely when you're actually trying to uh reveal all this sort of information. So, if you could support him in that way, I think that would go a long way to making him feel less alone.
Thank you, Andrew.
Pleasure. Always lovely to talk to you.
Thanks. Bye-bye. Bye.