Who Is Prince Andrew? What to Know About the Disgraced Royal

By Stuart Wolf - Jul 20, 2025

This article appeared in cleverclassic.com and has been published here with permission.

Queen Elizabeth’s favorite son, Prince Andrew, was a bona fide war hero, flying Royal Navy helicopters and saving lives in the Falklands War. He married and divorced Sarah Ferguson before befriending child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and being accused of sleeping with 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre. This is the story of the disgraced royal’s rise, career, and his spectacular fall from grace, including the most ill-judged, car-crash TV interview of all time.

A Prince Is Born

Prince Andrew was born Andrew Albert Christian Edward Windsor in Buckingham Palace on February 19th, 1960. He was Britain’s ruling monarch, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh’s third child after Prince Charles and Princess Anne, meaning he was second in line to the throne after Charles.

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Although nowadays, he is eighth in line. Just like his siblings — his younger brother, Prince Edward, was later born in 1964 — Andrew was looked after and educated by a governess at Buckingham Palace in his founding years.

Education

After attending Heatherdown School near Ascot in Berkshire, Andrew was packed off to boarding school at Gordonstoun in Scotland. His father and elder brother had both also studied at the exclusive school. There, his classmates gave Andrew the nickname "the Sniggerer" on account of "his penchant for off-color jokes, at which he laughed inordinately."

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In a 1980s TV interview, Andrew explained, "I was unfortunate enough in my early days at Gordonstoun not to realize the rules of the house, which were that you weren't allowed in the girls' house."

Graduation

The prince continued the story by saying, "I was unfortunately caught going through a door in the girls' house saying hello to somebody, and it stuck. Not many people use it nowadays, I don't think that it actually fits today anyway."

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After a six-month exchange program to Lakefield College School in Ontario, Canada, Andrew left Gordonstoun with A-levels in English, history, and economics. After graduation, Prince Andrew didn’t head off to university. Instead, he headed for a military career.

Military Career

In the spring of 1979, the carefree, ever-jovial Andrew enrolled at the Royal Naval College Flight, undergoing pilot training until he was accepted as a trainee helicopter pilot. Later that year, he entered Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and was appointed Midshipman.

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He also received a Green Beret by completing the Royal Marines All Arms Commando Course. Training with the Royal Air Force, Andrew learned to fly Gazelle and Sea King helicopters. In 1982, he joined the 820 Naval Air Squadron, serving aboard the HMS Invincible aircraft carrier.