VIEWPOINT
Jenni Murray
An early interview with an unhappy Sarah Ferguson made it clear that Randy Andy’s reputation was far from a joke…
I remember how funny we all found the title of the late Queen’s favourite son. Randy Andy was also known as the Party Prince and a string of girlfriends was attached to the young, handsome, charming war hero who came home from the Falklands War in 1982, grinning with a red rose between his teeth. He was so much more attractive than his steady, serious older brother – now King Charles. Andy was the Spare, unlikely to take the throne, and free to see life as privileged and a bit of a laugh.
I got a hint of how he was unlikely to leave his randy reputation behind as early as 1989, three years after his marriage to the sparky Sarah Ferguson. He was the father of his first child, Beatrice. I was invited to Buckingham Palace to interview the Duchess on the occasion of the publication of her first children’s book, Budgie: The Little Helicopter.