Some Freudian might be able to do a deep-dive psychoanalysis into new reports alleging that Prince Andrew employed an object associated with his mother’s power to seduce women.
That object was Queen Elizabeth’s throne at Buckingham Palace, the Daily Beast reported. According to the Daily Beast, Andrew “made a habit of seating his potential conquests” on his mother’s throne — her literal seat of power — “as part of an effort to woo them.”
“He does that to everyone he is trying to pull,” a palace insider told the Daily Beast.
Andrew reportedly is the queen’s favorite child and her much-indulged 60-year-old son, but the Duke of York, once dubbed “randy Andy” by the U.K. media, was stripped of his senior royal status over his scandalous friendship with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew also has been accused of having sex with one of the many underaged girls Epstein groomed to please his rich and powerful friends. Andrew has denied these sex abuse allegations.
The notion that Andrew used his mother’s throne to seduce women comes after friends of U.K.-based former supermodel Caprice Bourret recently told The Sun that he invited her to sit on his mother’s throne when he was trying to woo her in 2000.
“He took her to Buckingham Palace twice, and on one occasion she sat on the queen’s throne,” a source close to the model, known professionally just by her first name, said. This means Caprice would have been admitted into the Throne Room, which prominently displays the throne, upholstered in crimson silk, that was made for the queen’s coronation in 1953, and another chair later made for her husband, Prince Philip.
“As an American, she was thoroughly entertained at the notion he was a part of the royal family,” the friend told The Sun about the series of hush-hush dates Caprice and Andrew went on. “Plus all the secretive rendezvous, although unnecessary, were a great family dinner conversation point.”
Unfortunately for Andrew, Caprice, who also competed on the TV show “Dancing On Ice,” never reciprocated his romantic feelings and their dates were platonic. “She never fancied him” and ultimately “ghosted” him, the friend told The Sun.
The Daily Beast reported that Andrew’s alleged throne-seduction M.O. with Caprice sounded similar to an account the publication heard from a woman last year. In a story on the duke’s friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s alleged madam, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew took “a leaf from Epstein’s playbook” and used the Oxford-educated Maxwell to gain access to “smart women” in London.
In at least one case, Andrew used his private apartment at Buckingham Palace to get acquainted with a woman Maxwell found for him among her high-society connections, the Daily Beast added.
“Ghislaine procured women like me for Andrew,” the woman told the Daily Beast. “It was a network. She was on the party circuit and she was bringing Andrew around, meeting young women.”
This former friend of Maxwell’s told the Daily Beast that “it was clear immediately that I had been brought to the dinner (at Buckingham Palace) as a sex object.” To put Andrew off, the woman jokingly suggested they go on a tour of the palace. To her surprise, Andrew complied.
At one point, the prince took her out onto the balcony and had her wave — Queen Elizabeth-like — to a non-existent crowd. At another point, the woman said Andrew invited her to sit on his mother’s throne.
An insider told The Daily Beast that every woman Andrew tried to charm thinks she is the only one to get to sit on the queen’s throne — but that’s not the case.
Caprice’s friends also said Andrew let the supermodel take a decorative bowl she had admired on their Buckingham Palace tour. “She spotted a bowl she liked and asked Andrew if she could steal it and post it to her mum,” the friend said. “She claims that he let her, and her mum loved it!”
The Sun said members of the royal family are allowed to invite guests to the palace, but it is protocol to notify staff before showing them round.
“Andrew has an apartment at the palace, and clearly feels at home there,” a palace source told The Sun. “He’s entertained friends within his own space, but showing pals around the entire palace is quite extraordinary.”
“It’s a particularly strange thing to do, especially given that the queen could walk around the corner at any given moment!” the source said.