In his first interview since retiring from the Royal Navy last month, Prince Andrew has spoken out about his much-discussed playboy image and how his naval career helped him prioritise his life. And while he learned a great deal about leadership during his more than 20 years in the armed forces, perhaps the greatest lesson he learned was the importance of family.
“Separation was a fact of life but always very difficult,” he says of the months spent away from the Duchess and their two children. “I will always stand by my family. Separation taught me that I will always remain that rock for them.”
“I was never one for homesickness as a child at school so, as a defence mechanism, I treated it as going to boarding school,” says the Duke of York. “One had to have a certain mental stamina to put it out of your mind. Of course it was always very sad and difficult to leave my young family to go off to sea.”
However, thanks to the wonders of modern technology he was able to watch his daughters grow up, literally. “With advances in communications, particularly with mobile phones and e-mail via the internet, it has become refreshingly easier to stay in touch with one’s family… I was very fortunate as I have wonderful video records of my family as they were growing up. Sarah was brilliant at keeping a photographic and video record and sometimes the girls and I sit down and look at the tapes together.”
The Prince decided as a young boy that he wanted to be a pilot, and while he examined all three services, his choice was clear. “There was no contest,” he says. “The real difference is the challenge of flying from a flight deck of a moving ship. The others just couldn’t compete with that aspect of naval flying.”
But it wasn’t always easy being a royal in the Navy, Andrew recalls. However, if anything, it forced him to work harder. “I suppose there were expectations made of me,” he says. “I knew there was going to be a greater degree of scrutiny of my actions, but then that had been my experience at school.”
“In order to reduce that scrutiny, I made myself perform to my own standards for achievement that would allow me to demonstrate I was a professionally dedicated person.”
Prince Andrew retired in July following a tribute aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. “I have had 22 years of leadership and management training in one of the toughest environments you can imagine,” he says. “Everyone has to face up to new challenges and although I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Royal Navy it is time to take on new challenges.”
The Prince joined the Navy in 1979 and faced combat in the South Atlantic in 1982, fighting to regain the Falkland Islands from Argentina. In April 1999 he was promoted to commander in the Diplomacy Section of the Naval Staff. His next role will be as a roving ambassador for British industry.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
