- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
London (CNN) - Prince Andrew had it all. He is reportedly the queen's favorite son. A decorated war hero. A playboy prince once very desired.
But the prince has also attracted a good amount of scandals and controversies over the years. The latter - his society with the prominent sexual and dishonored financier Jeffrey Epstein - is casting a particularly dark shadow on him.
In an interview with the BBC, which will be broadcast in full this Saturday, the prince says he let the royal family down by partnering with Epstein, even after the American was convicted of being a sex offender.
Prince Andrew is still related to the promotion of British businesses.
"I stayed with him and that ... that's why ... I recriminate myself every day," Prince Andrew said during the interview, which was recorded at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.
"Because it was not something that was not typical of a member of the royal family and we tried to maintain the highest standards and practices, and I let them down, that simple."
"Replacement Heir"
Andrés, whose royal title is His Royal Highness Duke of York, is the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and brother of Prince Charles.
Originally the second in the line to the throne, it became number three when Prince William was born, and has slid more and more down with each royal birth. Now he is the eighth in the line.
Prince Andrew, left, along with his brothers Carlos and Eduardo, in April 1969.
Being the "spare heir" is a very difficult role to fulfill. Throughout his life, Andres has only seen his chances of accessing the throne diminish, but he still faces all the scrutiny and expectations related to being a member of royalty.
Like other replacements, especially the queen's sister, the late Princess Margarita and, more recently, Prince Henry, Andrew was sometimes seen as the "royal party".
His colorful past is perhaps best illustrated by the amount of nicknames the British tabloids have given the prince over the years, from "Randy Andy" (Randy the Hot) to "Airmiles Andy" (Andy Traveler Miles).
"When you think of Prince Andrew, you think of three things," said Richard Fitzwilliams, a real commentator.
"His loyal service in the Falklands, his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, which was a catastrophe for royalty, and now, of course, also the Epstein bond."
War hero
The duke is often known as the queen's favorite son, an attribute Fitzwilliams said dates back to his childhood.
"When Prince Charles and Princess Ana were born, the queen could not spend the time with them that she would have wanted," Fitzwilliams said.
When Andrew was born, he said, the queen had been on the throne for some years. "She was able to give him more attention and with Andres he had a particular affinity," Fitzwilliams added.
Unlike his older brother Carlos, Andrés did not go to college. Instead, he joined the Royal Navy. A few years later, I was sailing across the Atlantic on a mission to recover the Falkland Islands or Falkland Islands from Argentina. He returned as a hero and as one of the nation's favorites.
Enter Sarah Ferguson.
The prince and "Fergie" were among the most popular royals in the late 80s.
The prince and Ferguson, known as "Fergie", were the last fashion couple of the late 1980s. Their wedding attracted a television audience of hundreds of millions. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets that day, an event that The New York Times described as "Fergie fever."
The scandalous years
As a commoner, Ferguson was said to bring a breath of fresh air to the royal family. Too fresh, according to some. "He and Sarah, and there is no doubt about this, seem to have a weakness for the colorful characters that live in an ostentatious way," Fitzwilliams said.
The honeymoon is over soon. Andrés and Ferguson separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, after several scandals. However, the two maintain a close relationship, to the joy of the British tabloids.
After leaving active military service in 2001, the prince became a "full-time royalty member", assuming a role as promoter of British companies. He became the UK's special representative for international trade and investment, traveling the world selling the British brand.
That career ended abruptly a few months after being photographed with Epstein in Central Park in 2010. At that time, Epstein was a registered sex offender who had served 13 months in prison on charges related to prostitution.
The link with Epstein
Andrew was one of the many high profile influential men with whom Epstein had partnered. The prince said he met Epstein in 1999 and "saw him infrequently and probably no more than once or twice a year." He also admitted to having stayed at "several of his [Epstein] residences."
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell in a New York prison in August. I was waiting for a trial on federal charges accused of sexually abusing underage women.
The prince has always claimed that he never suspected the kind of behavior Epstein was accused of. But that claim is problematic since he partnered with Epstein even after his 2008 plea agreement, in which he pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges.
This photograph seems to show Prince Andrew with Jeffrey Epstein's accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and in the background, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The 59-year-old prince was named in court documents in New York in August on recent accusations that he had touched a young woman on Epstein's property in Manhattan. Previously, she was named in relation to Epstein when Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed that the financier kept her as a teenage sex slave.
Andres, who does not face legal proceedings, said that "any suggestion of misconduct with minors is categorically false." The prince insists that he never witnessed or suspected the type of behavior that led to Epstein's arrest, but admitted that it was "a mistake and a failure" to see the financier in disgrace in 2010.
The episode is doubly embarrassing for the prince, given the participation of his daughter, Princess Eugenie, in a charity that fights against modern slavery.
Although Andres continues to support business in the United Kingdom through several initiatives, he does not have a formal role.
"The friendship was absolutely disastrous for him, it cost him his job, and although he cannot resign as a member of the royal family, his name is linked to almost 200 sponsorships and is an open question if they will all continue," Fitzwilliams said.
Jeffrey EpsteinRealeza