We are thrilled to welcome Andrew Lownie to the Authors’ Club to talk about Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, the unauthorised biography of Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York.

The House of York  has seen its fair share of scandal. Still living in the same house, Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson claim to be “the happiest divorced couple in the world”. But what don’t we know?

Packed full of extraordinary revelations, Entitled is the first joint biography of the Duke and Duchess of York, revealing how their lives are still deeply entwined. Drawing on four years of research, numerous FOI requests and interviews with over a hundred people who have never spoken before, biographer Andrew Lownie traces the lives of the late Queen’s second son and his ex-wife through their childhoods, courtship, marriage, divorce, careers and royal and charitable activities.

Investigating the reality of their relationship it also assesses Andrew’s Falklands record, his business dealings and reveals new details of how the couple have been able to financially sustain their extravagant lifestyles. It also delves deeper into links with Jeffrey Epstein, which began earlier, continued longer and were much more frequent than reported.

Chronicling their lives in parallel, the picture that emerges is of a spoilt prince unable to connect and a duchess pushed by her insecurities into a desperate need to maintain the attention her ‘royal’ status brought.

ANDREW LOWNIE was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Union, before taking his master’s and doctorate at Edinburgh University. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he later returned to Cambridge as a visiting fellow at Churchill College. He has been a bookseller, publisher, journalist writing for The Times, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, Spectator, Guardian and since 1988 has run his own literary agency.  He is President of the Biographers Club, sits on the board of Biographers International Organisation and is a Trustee of the Campaign for Freedom of Information. His books include the prize-winning Stalin’s Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess (2015), the top ten Sunday Times bestsellers The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves (2019) and Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (2021).

Splendidly jaw-dropping… a volume jam-packed with grim, gripping details about the venal royal and his ex. My god, I wouldn’t want Lownie coming after me – he’s like a ferret after a rat.’  Rowan Pelling

It is the stuff of which revolutions are made. A.N. Wilson.

To book please contact the booking office at bookings@nlc.org.uk or call 020 7968 0912.

The two-course lunch, followed by coffee, costs £39. It’s in the Lady Violet Room and we start with drinks at 12:30pm.  Please book early and inform the club of any dietary requirements.