In a revelation that has sent shockwaves through the British establishment, an explosive new book—already dubbed “the scandal the Palace wanted buried”—claims that Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, engaged in affairs with at least twelve different women within just a year of his 1986 marriage to Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.

The bombshell allegations, compiled over more than a decade by royal biographer Charlotte Dunsworth, detail not only the Duke’s wandering eye but also the Duchess’s own calculated counterattacks—described in the book as “Machiavellian in their precision”—and paint a portrait of a marriage that was as unconventional as it was doomed.

A Royal Fairytale with a Rotten Core

When Prince Andrew wed “Fergie” on that sunlit July day at Westminster Abbey, millions of Britons believed they were witnessing the birth of a modern royal love story. But behind the smiles, Dunsworth writes, “both parties entered the marriage with romantic expectations already on shaky ground.”

According to multiple unnamed Palace aides cited in the book, Andrew’s commitment to the Royal Navy—and to a social calendar that seemed to blur the line between diplomatic charm and brazen flirtation—quickly left his new bride feeling sidelined. “There were whispers even during the honeymoon,” one former courtier recalled. “By Christmas, those whispers had become rumours too loud to ignore.”

The Dozen

The book alleges that in the first twelve months of marriage, Andrew engaged in affairs with a mix of actresses, society hostesses, and—most damagingly—two women with direct links to royal acquaintances. Each affair is outlined in meticulous detail, though names have been replaced with pseudonyms “to avoid legal challenges.”

One particularly damning chapter describes a week-long yachting trip in the Mediterranean in the summer of 1987, during which Andrew is said to have “vanished” from official engagements, later returning with “lipstick on his collar and a grin that infuriated the Duchess.”

Fergie’s Countermove

If Andrew expected his wife to suffer in silence, he was gravely mistaken. Dunsworth claims that Fergie, deeply humiliated yet unwilling to appear the passive victim, “crafted a strategy worthy of an Italian court intrigue.”

She allegedly rekindled an old romance with a polo player—arranging for photographs to “accidentally” leak to a tabloid—while simultaneously cultivating close friendships with influential journalists. “It was revenge served cold, calculated to the last headline,” the author notes.

One passage recounts a dinner at Claridge’s where Fergie, knowing full well a gossip columnist was seated within earshot, “let slip” an insinuation about Andrew’s “fraternal closeness” with a certain Hollywood starlet. The following week, the insinuation became a front-page splash.

An ‘Unusual’ Arrangement