Rowland: If it all goes wrong we can carry on under the radar. Andrew: I like your thinking!
PRINCE ANDREW and his friend Jonathan Rowland discussed secretly continuing their controversial business relationship ‘under the radar’ to escape media scrutiny.
Leaked messages reveal Andrew and Rowland discussed how the Duke would be free to act ‘without much accountability’ if public pressure over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal forced him to quit his role as the UK’s trade envoy.
The revelations might l eave some wondering how the Prince might conduct his affairs now he has effectively been sacked from public duties by the Queen.
Earlier this month the Duke, 59, was ditched as patron of a string of charities and organisations, and his cherished Pitch@Palace business project was kicked out of its offices at Buckingham Palace.
In February 2011, Andrew was again in the eye of a media storm after this newspaper revealed, for the first time, the now infamous picture of him with his arm around the bare waist of Virginia Roberts, a victim of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Two weeks later, the MoS revealed that Jonathan Rowland’s father David had secretly helped pay off the Duchess of York’s debts. The exposé put the close ties between the Duke and the Rowlands under the spotlight.
Questions were raised about why Andrew had opened their private bank in Luxembourg. For the notoriously publicity- shy Rowlands, being dragged into the controversy that surrounded Andrew was an uncomfortable experience.
‘It never ends!!,’ an exasperated Jonathan Rowland wrote to the Duke in March 2011. ‘I had Mail and Telegraph on all day. Just read the stories doesn’t seem too bad all things considered. Told them you attended bank as Trade Envoy supporting a British owned business.’
‘ Thank you,’ replied Andrew. ‘There is a real case of vindictiveness in this and I’m sorry for causing you trouble.’
There was no question, however, of the Rowlands cutting ties with their influential friend. ‘Don’t worry we are behind you,’ Mr Rowland wrote. ‘We just need to reinvent the relationship to circumvent these idiots.’ Later, the Duke asked Mr
Rowland’s advice for how he should handle the continuing controversy. His friend offered two suggestions, the first of which was standard advice for handling a crisis.
‘Lay low for a while carry on with less engagements and slowly build the profile back up,’ he wrote. ‘Avoid difficult people for a bit, we can always take messages, and play straight.’ His second idea, however, was less conventional: ‘ Or you could put your Trade position to a national vote, you would win, and then carry on as normal as you have a public mandate.
‘If it goes wrong you resign and we carry on completely under the radar of everybody because nobody would be able to criticise you any more.’ He added: ‘ The second option has some appeal as you could do really want [sic] you want without much accountability.’
An enthusiastic Andrew replied: ‘I like your thinking!’
Four months later, Buckingham Palace announced Andrew was stepping down as trade envoy. His links to Epstein had been the latest, and most damaging, in a long list of controversies that had dogged him since taking up the role in 2001.