Andrew ‘had 40 prostitutes brought into five-star Thai hotel within four days’

A royal historian has claimed Andrew had ‘no moral boundaries’ and would use trade envoy trips overseas to chase women.

Andrew Lownie said that the former Duke of York had 40 prostitutes taken to his room while on a visit to Thailand at the taxpayer’s expense for the king’s birthday celebrations in 2001.

The former prince, whose royal titles have now been stripped, was the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment between 2001 and 2011.

However, according to Mr Lownie, who charted Andrew’s life as a royal in his book, the King, formerly known as Prince Charles, advised the-then Prime Minister Tony Blair against hiring his son over concerns he would only ‘chase women and play golf’.

The author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York told the Daily Mail that Andrew would insist on lodging at luxurious hotels rather than at embassies during his official visits, during which he would put in two weeks of ‘private time’ in addition to his envoy business.

‘In 2001, Andrew is 41, he’s having his midlife crisis and he basically starts chasing lots and lots of women,’ he said.

‘He always puts in two weeks of “private time”. So, we pay for his holiday and then he goes off and does things.

‘There was a famous trip to Thailand – for the birthday celebrations of the King. Andrew is representing his country and insists on staying in a five-star hotel rather than the embassy, which he always did.

‘Andrew had 40 prostitutes brought in the space of four days. This was all enabled by diplomats and others.’

Former trade envoy Paul Scully told Times Radio that Andrew booked out ‘pretty much’ an entire floor of Bangkok’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel when he visited the city.

The ex Tory MP said that Andrew’s indulgence cost somewhere in the region of £50,000.

It comes as Buckingham Palace started proceedings yesterday to remove Andrew’s official titles and evict him from Royal Lodge.

But Mr Lownie added that as well as using the trade trips for personal pleasure, Andrew exploited the getaways to further his business contacts.

On one occasion, Andrew arranged a meeting in China for his business partner David Rowlands, as well as helping him to get a banking license in the Middle East.

However there remains a ‘conspiracy of silence’ around Andrew’s dealings as Trade Envoy, with all files on his ten-year stint yet to be disclosed, Mr Lownie said.

Speaking to Sarah Vine before the Palace moved to strip Andrew’s titles, Mr Lownie said Andrew was bringing ‘disrepute’ on the whole institution and that he should be ‘thrown under the bus’.

He said: ‘If there had been proper scrutiny of Andrew during his time as Trade Envoy, some of these problems might not have happened.’

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