Prince Andrew is a member of the British royal family. He is the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip.
So let’s find out some trivia and facts about his scandalous life.
- Prince Andrew is the Duke of York
- His full name is Andrew Albert Christian Edward
- He was born 19 February 1960
- He is a member of the British royal family
- He is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- At the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the British throne
- As of November 2019, he is eighth in line
- He holds the rank of commander and the honorary rank of vice admiral in the Royal Navy
- He served in the Royal Navy as an active-duty helicopter pilot and instructor and as the captain of a warship
- He saw active service during the Falklands War
- Flying on multiple missions including anti-surface warfare, Exocet missile decoy, and casualty evacuation
- In 1986, Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson
- The couple’s marriage, separation and eventual divorce in 1996 attracted a high level of media coverage
- He carried out various official engagements
- He served as Britain’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment until July 2011
- Prince Andrew was born in the Belgian Suite of Buckingham Palace on 19 February 1960
- He was baptised in the Palace’s Music Room on 8 April 1960
- He was baptised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher
- He is the namesake of his paternal grandfather, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
- He died 16 years before he was born
- Prince Andrew was the first child born to a reigning monarch since the birth in 1857 of Queen Victoria’s youngest child, Princess Beatrice
- As with his older siblings, Andrew was looked after by a governess
- She was responsible for his early education at Buckingham Palace
- He was sent to Heatherdown School near Ascot in Berkshire
- In September 1973, he entered Gordonstoun, in northern Scotland
- His father and elder brother had also attended the same school
- While there, he spent six months participating in an exchange programme to Lakefield College School in Canada
- He left Gordonstoun in July two years later with A-Levels in English, history, economics, and political science
- He did not go to university
- But instead entered the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth
- The Duke is a capable golfer, playing off a low single-figure handicap
- He was Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews between 2003 and 2004
- During the club’s 250th anniversary season
- He is patron of a number of royal golf clubs
- He has been elected as an honorary member of many others
- The Duke is also a keen skier and has bought an exclusive skiing chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, for between £8 million and £13 million jointly with Sarah Ferguson
- The Duke is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, the senior maritime City livery company
- In May 2008, he attended a goose-hunt in Kazakhstan with President Nursultan Nazarbayev
- Since 2014, the Duke of York has a personal heraldic flag for use in Canada
- It is the Royal Arms of Canada in banner form defaced with a blue roundel surrounded by a wreath of gold maple leaves, within which is a depiction of an “A” surmounted by a coronet
- Above the roundel is a white label of three points, the centre one charged with an anchor
- Appears on two stamps with HMS Herald, issued by Saint Helena
- Prince Andrew has been the chairman of the Outward Bound Trust since 1999
- Succeeding his father the Duke of Edinburgh
- The charity tries to instil leadership qualities among young people
- From 2001 until July 2011, the Duke of York worked with UK Trade & Investment, part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment
- The post, previously held by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, involved representing and promoting the UK at various trade fairs and conferences around the world
- His suitability for the role was challenged in the House of Commons by Shadow Justice Minister Chris Bryant in February 2011, at the time of the 2011 Libyan civil war
- The Duke is Patron of the Middle East Association (MEA), the UK’s premier organisation for promoting trade and good relations with the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Iran
- Since that ended the Duke continued to support UK enterprise without a special role
- The Duke is also Patron of Fight for Sight, a charity dedicated to research into the prevention and treatment of blindness and eye disease
- He was a member of the Scout Association
- He tours Canada frequently to undertake duties related to his Canadian military role
- Rick Peters, the former Commanding Officer of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada stated that Prince Andrew is “very well informed on Canadian military methods”
- While touring India as a part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Andrew became interested in the work of Women’s Interlink Foundation (WIF)
- A charity which helps women acquire skills to earn income
- On 3 September 2012, the Duke of York was among a team of 40 people who abseiled down The Shard (tallest building in Europe) to raise money for educational charities the Outward Bound Trust and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund
- In 2013, it was announced that the Duke was becoming the Patron of London Metropolitan University and the University of Huddersfield
- In July 2015, he was installed as Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield
- In recognition of the Duke’s promotion of entrepreneurship he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge on 1 May 2018
- He became the Patron of the charity Attend in 2003
- He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Royal United Services Institute
- In 2014, the Duke of York founded the Pitch@Palace initiative to support entrepreneurs with the amplification and acceleration of their business ideas
- Entrepreneurs selected for Pitch@Palace Bootcamp are officially invited by the Duke to attend St. James Palace in order to pitch their ideas and to be connected with potential investors, mentors and business contacts
- The Duke has also founded The Prince Andrew Charitable Trust which aims to support young people in different areas such as education and training
- He has also founded a number of awards including Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA)
- A programme to develop the digital and enterprise skills
- The Duke of York Award for Technical Education, given to talented young people in technical education
- And the Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Award, which recognises talents of young people in entrepreneurship
- The Duke of York has lent his support to organisations that focus on science and technology by becoming the patron of Catalyst Inc and TeenTech
- In 2014, Andrew visited Geneva, Switzerland, to promote British science at CERN’s 60th anniversary celebrations
- In May 2018, he visited China and opened the Pitch@Palace China Bootcamp 2.0 at Peking University
- In March 2019, the Duke of York took over the patronage of the Outward Bound Trust from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh
- Prince Andrew had held the position of chairman of the board of trustees since 1999
- In May 2019, it was announced that the Duke had succeeded Peter Carrington as patron of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust
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