The British Government is unlikely ever to investigate any of the financial allegations levelled against Prince Andrew, a veteran royal reporter has said. 

The third child of the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of York is once again in the headlines following the publication of a new biography of him and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. 

Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York by Andrew Lowie chronicles the lives of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson as they are increasingly engulfed by scandal. 

The book reports on the allegation by Virginia Giuffre that she was sex trafficked to the Duke of York when she was 17 by Jeffrey Epstein - something Prince Andrew strongly denies. 

Britain’s Prince Andrew with Virginia Giuffre centre and Ghislaine Maxwell. Image: US Dept of Justice.

However, it also delves into how the Prince can afford to spend millions on the upkeep of his property Royal Lodge, which has an annual running costs of around £250,000 - despite the fact that he has no discernable income. 

On Newstalk Daily, royal reporter Richard Palmer said the Prince has few fans among the British establishment. 

“I went to Andrew Lownie’s book launch and it was staggering to see the number of former diplomats and other establishment figures who were there and who had had enough of Andrew,” he explained. 

“And really want to see some sort of British Government enquiry, parliamentary enquiry into his behaviour.” 

Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Throughout his life, Prince Andrew has been impressed by wealth and spent his life as a working royal consorting with many of the world’s richest people. 

Epstein was the most notorious, but his social network extends to other superwealthy people of dubious morality. 

“There’s also another element to it which is covered in Andrew Lownie’s book, which is the allegation - with a fair amount of evidence to support it - that while he was going on British taxpayer funded trips abroad as a trade envoy, he was actually drumming up business for himself and his mates on the side,” Mr Palmer explained. 

“In breach of the rules of the rules of royal travel. 

“Had he been a Government Minister, I think he would have been forced to step down many years before he actually did.” 

Members of the British Royal Family. Picture by: Patrick van Katwijk.

Mr Palmer continued that “powers that be” within the British Government simply do not want to examine his relationships with these people as it would unleash a “can of worms”. 

“I don’t see any sign at the moment of trying to investigate him,” he said. 

“We have rules in Parliament that make it difficult for MPs and peers to debate widely the behaviour of the Royal Family. 

“I sort of understand the reason behind that because otherwise people could be using them to make cheap points all the time, party political points.

“But there does come a time when you think, ‘This is a scandal and we need to get to the bottom of this.’”

The Duke of York. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Mr Palmer added that the Commons’ Public Accounts Committee would be ideally placed to launch a probe. 

The Committee is famously publicity hungry but even they seem wary of taking on the Royals. 

“We had a spell where successive Chairs of that committee were quite keen to hold the Royal Family to account,” he said. 

“Then, I would say they lost their appetite a bit when we had that scandal over MPs’ expenses.” 

Buckingham Palace has been approached for comment. 

Main image: Prince Andrew. Picture by: Alamy.com.