The royal romance of Andy and Koo
Before Harry & Meghan, all eyes were on another prince & starlet
S HE’S a beautiful American actress. He’s the younger brother of the man who would be king of England. They fall in love — but can it work?
No, we’re not talking about TV’s “Suits” actress Meghan Markle, Prince Harry’s girlfriend of one year and rumored future fianceé. This is about Koo Stark, erstwhile squeeze of Harry’s uncle Andrew, brother of Prince Charles.
Thirty-six years ago, the Manhattan native almost caused the British public to have a collective heart attack when it seemed she might walk the aisle on the arm of Queen Elizabeth II’s second son.
Now a single mom and successful photographer based in London, Stark, 61, still lives with the notoriety of her ill-fated 18month love affair with Andrew.
It was in the early ’ 80s — a different time with stricter moral codes, especially where the royal family was concerned.
“She caused a sensation,” Charles Rae, former royal correspondent for the UK’s Sun newspaper and author of “The People’s Princess,” tells The Post. “Everyone was fascinated by her — particularly her past.”
While the once-divorced Los Angeles-born Markle, 35, has a few racy scenes on her résumé — including romps in “Suits” — Stark’s stand-out roles were in the littleknown, mildly erotic films “Marquis de Sade’s Justine” (1977) and “Emily” (1976). The latter was more memorable for its wooden acting than its lesbian shower scene.
They were career moves that later scuppered Stark’s chances of ever becoming Her Royal High- ness Princess Koo. Despite charming the queen and earning the approval of Princess Di — who in recently republished interviews with biographer Andrew Morton referred to Stark as “sweet Koo” — there was no room in the House of Windsor for a woman the press dubbed a “soft porn actress.”
“In those days, a prince of the realm might have had an actress as a mistress, just like his ancestors would have done, but never a wife,” says veteran royal watcher Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and writer of the new book “Diana: The Last Word.” T HE doomed love story began in February 1981 around the time of Prince Andrew’s 21st birthday. The actress — real name Kathleen Dee-Anne Stark — was four years older and still waiting for her big break. She was cast as Luke Skywalker’s friend Camie Loneozner in 1977’s “Star Wars” but ended up on the cutting-room floor. Koo had crossed the pond in 1970, partly due to her film-producer father Wilbur Stark’s work obligations.
Set up by mutual friends on a blind date, Stark admitted the royal was initially less than gallant when they first dined out.
“We went to a restaurant not far from Harrods,” she told Britain’s Mail on Sunday in 2015. “As I stepped forward, Prince Andrew did the same, and we crashed into each other before both stepping back. ‘I’m a prince, I go first,’ he said.
“Being American, I retorted: ‘I am the prince’s date, I go first,’ but he got his foot into the door ahead of me, chuckling.”
Still, the attraction grew between the gorgeous brunette — who was appearing in a National Theatre production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?” — and Andrew, then a dashing Royal Navy officer and second in line to the throne.
“He walked into my life and that was it: He was my life,” Stark said.
The duo’s romance largely took place under the radar as the media focused on Andrew’s big brother Charles’ wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in July 1981.
“We used to be able to walk around London without much attention,” Stark said.
A month after Charles and Di’s nuptials, Stark’s status as the “serious” royal girlfriend was affirmed when she met Andrew’s mother on the Windsors’ annual summer vacation at Balmoral, Scotland. According to Seward, the queen was captivated by the “lovely girl” Stark. The family was “very fond of her,” she adds. B UT storm clouds gathered in April 1982, when Andrew’s ship, HMS Invincible, was sent to the Falklands war between Britain and Argentina. The prince was a Sea King helicopter search-and-rescue pilot and served at the heart of the action.
“I didn’t go outside for days and sat glued to BBC World News,” Stark told the Mail on Sunday. “We were able to stay in touch with the occasional ship-to-shore call, and we wrote long letters.”
Andrew sailed home unscathed in September 1982, two months after the British victory. Like his nephew, Harry, who would return from Afghanistan 2¹/2 decades later, he was hailed as a royal hero.
As The Sun’s Rae says: “It was the best period of his life in terms of popularity, though it went downhill from there.
“Suddenly, people were interested in him. They wanted to know everything about him, par- ticularly who his girlfriend was.”
It was the end of the honeymoon period when Stark could escape press attention. Instead, while the couple vacationed in the Caribbean, photos emerged of the actress’ topless appearances in the coming-of-age movie “Emily.”
Editors competed to get paparazzi shots of Andrew and Stark together. The lovebirds cut short their break and flew back separately to the UK. Stark disguised herself in a frumpy outfit and hat.
“Compared to Lady Diana, Koo was the scarlet lady,” says Katie Nicholl, a former royal correspondent who is finishing up her latest book, “Harry: Life, Loss and Love.”
“She was an actress who had taken part in some pretty risqué films, and she wasn’t deemed at all suitable for a prince.”
There were breathless headlines such as “Queen bans Koo” claiming the monarch had vetoed the relationship. The actress was con-
stantly chased by photographers.
Unlike when Harry got the palace last November to issue a warning to the media to back off Markle, there was no such protection for Stark. Andrew asked the queen’s press secretary to plead for privacy on their behalf, but nothing was done.
“The public wasn’t all that keen on what they saw as this untenable woman as a future member of the royal family,” Rae said.
After all, she reminded them a little too much of another American, Wallis Simpson, who nearly destroyed the monarchy when she caused Edward VIII to abdicate in 1936. T HE couple’s relationship suffered beyond repair.
“It was out of their control,” Rae says. “There were external forces at work, and they didn’t break up of their own volition.”
Seward agrees: “It was very sad and a shame they couldn’t have cemented their bond. But it’s testament to their relationship that they’ve remained close friends over the many years they’ve known each other.”
Andrew went on to tie the knot with the well-connected Sarah Ferguson in 1986, then deemed a more appropriate choice (at least before her later indiscretions). That same year, Stark, who, inspired by the paparazzi to become a photographer herself, wed wealthy heir Tim Jefferies. Their marriages lasted six years and one year, respectively.
In 1997, at age 41, Stark gave birth to a daughter, Tatiana (Andrew’s goddaughter), by Boston-born banker Warren Walker. The couple’s relationship ended during her pregnancy and has since been marked by ugly court battles over custody and child support.
She successfully fought breast cancer in 2003 — which involved a double mastectomy — and has had numerous financial problems since.
But she has retained her loyalty to Andrew, who, like his dad, Prince Philip, has been prone to gaffes — including befriending a Libyan gun smuggler and allegedly discussing the release of the Lockerbie bomber with Moammar Khadafy’s son Saif in the late 2000s.
Even in 2015, when Andrew found himself in the midst of a scandal involving a teen who claimed she was coerced into being his “sex slave,” Stark leapt to his defense.
“I’ve only known him to be honorable and honest, with Christian values,” she told the Mail on Sunday. “The stain on his reputation is spilling across his life like blood from a new wound.” No charges were brought. Lately, Stark has been keeping a relatively low profile. She was most recently pictured at a London gallery in May at the opening of her first solo photo exhibit in 23 years.
Meanwhile, the media circus surrounding Markle has gone into overdrive, but not for the same reasons it did for Stark or Simpson.
“Being a divorcée and an American would have sent shivers down the spine of the establishment years ago, but not anymore,” says Nicholl, noting Charles is now married to a divorcée, Camilla Parker Bowles. “The monarchy has had to modernize as times have moved on and attitudes have changed.”
And now that Harry is fifth in line to the throne — Charles, Prince William and William’s young children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, all stand ahead of him — there is much less pressure on him to marry the “perfect bride.”
“Most people can see that while she doesn’t tick the traditional prerequisites for a royal consort, Meghan could be everything Harry needs in a wife,” Nicholl says. Still, she must abide by some rules. In a column for The Daily Mail last fall, Stark gave some lighthearted advice to Markle if she is indeed ready for a Westminster Abbey wedding.
“Keep quiet. Say nothing. Don’t answer the door. Call a good lawyer — straight away,” she wrote, adding, “She needs to put up, and shut up.”