Disgraced Andrew shuts down another pet venture

PRINCE Andrew’s portfolio of business ventures has received another painful blow following his £12 million settlement with Virginia Giuffre.

Now I can reveal that the disgraced Duke, 62, who was recently named in a murky £1 million entanglement with a Turkish fraudster, is quietly closing yet another of his firms.

The Queen’s second son is winding up his company Tyrolese, which provided ‘business support services’ and, seemingly, is a reference to the Western Austrian state of Tyrol, a favoured skiing haunt for the royals.

Last week director Richard Parry, a solicitor with Farrer & Co, made the application to voluntarily strike the company, of which Andrew is the sole person with significant control, off the Companies House register.

The Prince’s former private secretary, Amanda Thirsk, had been a director of the company for a decade, from 2010 until 2020, when she quit in the wake of his infamous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, which led to his withdrawal from public life in 2019. Earlier this year I revealed that another of Andrew’s businesses, Urramoor Ltd, had plunged into £200,000 of debt. The company was used to manage investments, and Andrew was listed as having ‘significant influence or control over the trustees of a trust’ using the name HRH Andrew Inverness.

The use of that name, which stems from his title Earl of Inverness, led to concern that he was attempting to avoid scrutiny over his involvement.

Another company controlled by Andrew, Lincelles, is also facing closure. The royal had set up the firm, understood to be planned as a vehicle for his family investments, with former Coutts banker Harry Keogh in 2020.

A source close to the Duke tells me: ‘The closure of Tyrolese was just a tidying up exercise.

‘His office were looking into what companies were being used and which weren’t, and closing down any that were just accruing admin.’