Why Did He Collect Toys?
Is it actually true in real life? If you’re watching the dramatization of the interview that changed the course of his career and family life, you might be wondering about Prince Andrew’s teddy bear obsession. The Duke of York is known for his temper around these stuffed toys.
Scoop is the inside account of the tenacious journalism that landed an earthshattering interview – Prince Andrew‘s infamous BBC Newsnight appearance. From the tension of producer Sam McAlister’s high stakes negotiations with Buckingham Palace, all the way to Emily Maitlis’ jaw dropping, forensic showdown with the Prince, Scoop takes us inside the story, with the women who would stop at nothing to get it. To get an interview this big, you have to be bold.
Related Stories
In one scene of Scoop, Prince Andrew tells off a maid for rearranging his teddy bear collection on his bed. If you watch this, it might seem like it’s an outlandish kind of dramatization. Well, it seems like it’s not far from the truth at all. Here’s what we know of Prince Andrew’s teddy bear obsession.
Is Prince Andrew obsessed with teddy bears in real life?
There have been several accounts of Prince Andrew and his obsession with teddy bears. Charlotte Briggs who used to work for the disgraced royal told The Sun in 2022 about her daily duties in arranging the stuffed toys for the Prince. “As soon as I got the job, I was told about the teddies and it was drilled into me how he wanted them,” she said. “I even had a day’s training. Everything had to be just right. It was so peculiar.” She claims the bears were collected from all over the world and many were dressed up like sailors.
Among the stuffed animals included two hippos and a black panther named “Daddy,” “Ducks,” and “Prince” which were placed on his bed or around the room. In true royal fashion, his two top favorite teddy bears were seated upon mahogany thrones by his bedside. “It was so odd,” Briggs said. “After all, he was a grown man who had served in the Falklands. But he absolutely loved the teddies and was very clear about how he wanted them arranged.”
Elizabeth Day recounted her time interviewing Prince Andrew in an essay with Daily Mail, “I was told to wait in a corridor where my only other companion was an oversized teddy bear squashed into a seat. When I was ushered in to meet Prince Andrew, I asked him about it. He sniggered and told me it had been a wedding gift from his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. Apparently he had found the bear waiting for him when he got into the horse-drawn carriage that was to take them from Westminster Abbey to their reception. I remember that he found this extremely funny, even several years after the event.”
Paul Page worked in Royalty and Specialist Protection Command between 1998 and 2004 – told Ranvir Singh on the ITV documentary Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile: “It had about 50 or 60 stuffed toys positioned on the bed and basically there was a card the inspector showed us in a drawer and it was a picture of these bears all in situ. The reason for the laminated picture was if those bears weren’t put back in the right order by the maids, he would shout and scream.”
What happened with Prince Andrew?
Prince Andrew faced mounting scrutiny due to his alleged relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The sex offender was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correction Center, NY before he was due to face court on federal sex-trafficking charges. The Friday morning before his death, thousands of documents from a civil suit had been released, providing lurid accounts accusing Epstein of sexually abusing many underage girls.
Epstein’s “suicide has left many unanswered questions, particularly for his victims, and I deeply sympathize with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure,” the prince said in 2019. “I can only hope that, in time, they will be able to rebuild their lives. Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.”
During an interview with BBC Newsnight (which is featured in Scoop) in November 2019, Prince Andrew said he “regretted” his connection to Epstein but had no memory of ever meeting Giuffre. “I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever,” he said and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He stepped back from royal life shortly after the BBC interview aired, asking his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II for permission to withdraw from public duties.
In 2022, Andrew was stripped of his military titles after a judge ruled a sexual abuse civil lawsuit against him could proceed, which he settled. “With The Queen’s approval and agreement, the Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen,” the palace said in a statement.
ncG1vNJzZmirpK65pq%2FArKueql6YvK57xKernqqklravucSnq2iblaGyo77IrbBmppWswHB9lm1vb2xkZL2ztc2cnGaZnpm%2FpsOMrZydnKlir6at0Wg%3D