Randy Andy Has a Chinese Spy Problem

Britain’s royals face another major scandal thanks to their most embarrassing member.

Prince Andrew, Duke of York’s place in the history books is secure as the most scandal-ridden member of his era of Mountbatten-Windsors. He’s had competition, between his older brother King Charles III’s marital (and extramarital) difficulties, and his nephew Harry’s unwise marriage to a media-hungry American harridan, yet Andrew’s unquestionably the go-to British royal when it comes to dragging the family into the headlines in an ignominious manner.

The 64-year-old prince’s public career has amounted to one regrettable story after another. Excepting his service in the Royal Navy, including deployment as a helicopter pilot on active service during the 1982 Falklands War, which reflected credit on Andrew, there’s not much praiseworthy to be found. After playing the field for several years with party girls, gaining him the tabloid moniker Randy Andy, his 1986 marriage to Sarah Ferguson, the rambunctious Fergie, failed to settle the prince down for long.

That union lasted a decade before succumbing to the inevitable divorce, amid reports of topless toe-sucking and related incidents that were not edifying for Buckingham Palace. Andy and Fergie have remained friends, despite their failed marriage. Indeed, Fergie has been a reliable defender of her ex-husband, the father of their two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.