Buckingham Palace is once again under fire, this time over accusations that its continued secrecy around Prince Andrew is actively damaging public trust rather than protecting it.
The criticism comes from Andrew Lownie, Andrew’s unofficial biographer, who has described the situation in blunt terms on his Substack. According to Lownie, efforts to shield Andrew from scrutiny are not containing the fallout but slowly eating away at confidence in both the monarchy and the government.
At the centre of the row is the Cabinet Office’s attempt to block the release of documents linked to Andrew’s time as a UK trade envoy. Before being withdrawn, some of these papers were seen by journalists and reportedly revealed sensitive details about overseas travel arrangements.
One key disclosure suggested that any rule changes would have shifted responsibility for funding Andrew’s foreign trips from the former Department of Trade and Industry to the Royal Travel Office. That move would have added around £90,000 to the palace budget. Destinations discussed in the documents included China, Russia, south-east Asia and Spain.
Lownie argues that those in charge would likely claim releasing the files would cause greater harm than keeping them hidden. But he says that argument no longer holds up.
Even if someone were willing to accept what he calls a serious moral failure, Lownie insists the damage is already happening. In his view, the steady flow of verified revelations about Andrew has made one thing clear. Keeping secrets is only dragging out the pain.
He warns that each new disclosure chips away further at public trust and ensures the reputational damage continues unresolved. According to Lownie, the situation will not stabilise until the full truth is openly acknowledged and dealt with.
In short, what is meant to protect the monarchy may be doing the opposite. And as the pressure builds, silence looks less like a strategy and more like a liability for Buckingham Palace.
