Former Civil Servants Reveal Pressure to Approve Controversial Expenses for Prince Andrew

Retired civil servants have brought to light that the expenses for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s private massages during his international trips as Britain’s trade envoy were covered by taxpayer money. This revelation adds to the scrutiny over his spending habits during his tenure in the prestigious role.

Former Whitehall officials expressed their shock at Andrew’s lavish expenditures, which included not only flights and hotel accommodations but also spa treatments. These expenditures have raised eyebrows and led to questions about the financial transparency during his decade-long service as a representative of the UK.

This disclosure challenges previous assurances from Buckingham Palace. When Andrew’s role concluded in 2011, the Palace had maintained that he covered all personal expenses during his trade missions. However, these claims now come into question with the new information surfacing.

One former civil servant, appalled by the situation, attempted to halt a payment for massage services billed to the public. Despite his efforts, his objection was ultimately overruled, allowing the payment to proceed.

Compounding these financial concerns, Andrew is also under investigation for misconduct in public office. Allegations suggest he may have exploited his position to share confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein and other affluent associates, further tarnishing his public image.

His dramatic downfall, capped by his arrest last week, will see the disgraced royal retreat to his new home on the Sandringham estate with nothing more than a chef and a lone valet.

His love of luxury foreign travel as trade envoy between 2001 and 2011 – jetting around on private jets and checking into sprawling hotel suites – earned him the nickname Air Miles Andy. 

He was stripped of his globe-trotting duties in July 2011 after months of public fury over his conduct and his friendship with convicted sex offender Epstein.

The cost of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s private massages on his overseas trips as Britain’s trade envoy were picked up by the taxpayer. Pictured in 2007 with al-Ahmadi city governor Sheikh Ibrahim al-Duaij al-Sabah

A massage bed with rumpled towels is seen in the ‘Kuala Lumpur Suite’, a ‘presidential’ suite in the Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta shortly after Andrew checked out in 2011

Andrew was said to have booked the hour-long treatment at the five-star Shangri-La Hotel with a young masseuse called Ria (pictured), who said she also massaged him three times in one day during a visit in 2008

The axe came shortly after The Mail on Sunday revealed he had enjoyed massages and stayed in a £1,200-a-night suite during an official trade trip to Indonesia that April. 

Andrew was said to have booked the hour-long treatment at the five-star Shangri-La Hotel with a young masseuse called Ria, who said she also massaged him three times in one day during a visit in 2008.

The former duke was reported to have received the treatments in his luxurious presidential suite which boasted a butler service and a built-in sauna.

At the time, Buckingham Palace came to the former prince’s defence, issuing a statement claiming he covered the expenses himself. 

‘All personal expenses for the Duke of York during overseas visits are paid for personally by His Royal Highness,’ a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

However, a retired civil servant, who worked in the UK’s trade department in the early 2000s, told the BBC of a claim for ‘massage services’ for the royal on a separate trip. 

He said he was so disgusted, he tried to reject the payment which had been submitted after Andrew had travelled to the Middle East on an official trip. ‘I thought it was wrong… I’d said we mustn’t pay it, but we ended up paying it anyway.’

He said the department had missed the opportunity to check the royal’s behaviour by allowing such expenses to go through without question. ‘I can’t say it would have stopped him, but we should have flagged that something was wrong,’ he added.

Another source, a former senior Whitehall official who oversaw finances in that area, said he had seen similar expenses for Andrew’s trips. He told the BBC he had been shocked by the scale of Andrew’s

lavish spending as envoy, including excessive flights and unreasonable numbers of hotel rooms and charges for his entourage.

‘I couldn’t believe it… it was like it wasn’t real money, they weren’t spending any of their own money,’ he said. 

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor pictured in the Epstein files, kneeling over a woman lying on the floor 

Masseuse Monique Giannelloni claims Prince Andrew booked her to massage him at Buckingham Palace 

Ms Giannelloni was paid £75 for massaging the Duke of York, who ‘draped himself across my massage table’ and ‘sent a fresh wave of nervous energy coursing through me’

Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell posing for a photo. Virginia Giuffre’s lawyer said there was substantial evidence that Andrew had sex with Ms Giuffre in London in 2001 when she was 17

He added that there was little control over or proper record-keeping of spending. He claimed payments related to Andrew’s trips were automatically given a ‘rubber stamp’ of approval, rather than being subjected to any scrutiny.

The former Whitehall official said this was down to the deference being shown to Andrew by top civil servants and their reluctance to challenge him. 

Andrew’s penchant for regular massages is no secret, with the Epstein files revealing that he had ‘daily massages’ while visiting the disgraced financier in Florida.

His chief accuser Virginia Giuffre claimed she was asked to give Andrew a massage by Ghislaine Maxwell before having sex with him as a 17-year-old on three occasions in 2001. Andrew has vehemently denied the allegations.

The Daily Mail can also reveal that Buckingham Palace paid for a masseuse to visit Andrew at the royal residence. 

Monique Giannelloni was waved through security in June 2000, after being recommended by Epstein’s jailed enabler Maxwell. 

Ms Giannelloni said she was in her 30s when she was taken up to Andrew’s room, where he emerged from the bathroom naked while Epstein was also in the room.

An invoice obtained by the Mail shows that Ms Giannelloni was later paid £75 by the palace.

‘When I went there, Jeffrey Epstein was also in the room the whole time and they were talking about purchasing some island for around £20million, which I thought was very strange,’ she recalled.

Downing Street declined to comment on the latest allegations. The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘That is something for the police to look at, not for me to comment on or give a running commentary on a live police investigation.

‘But on the general point of whether the Government stands ready to assist the police in their inquiries, the answer is – and has consistently been – yes.’