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Air Miles Andy
Prince Andrew (the Duke of York) 
is often in the news, but not always 
for the right reasons. The Queen’s 
second son is a keen golfer, patron of 
The Middle East Association (MEA), 
and, until recently (2011), the United 
Kingdom’s Special Representative for 
International Trade and Investment. 
Over the years, Andrew earned the 
nickname “Air Miles Andy”. This was 
because of the large number of trips 
he regularly went on, often at the 
tax-payers expense. Some were for 
business, but not all.
In 2007, the prince flew from 
London to Madrid (Spain) 
for a forum on renewable 
energy. He went there as 
part of his role as the UK’s 
Special Representative 
for International Trade 
and Investment. The 
following morning, he had a breakfast meeting with 
investors from the renewable energy industry at the 
Ritz Hotel. Later that day, he flew to Barcelona for a 
telecommunications conference where he met with 
exhibitors. Nothing wrong with that… except that 
instead of travelling straight back to London that 
evening, he asked the pilot of the British Airways jet 
to take him to Geneva (Switzerland). Andrew then 
spent the following week skiing in the upmarket 
resort of Verbier with his ex-wife (Sarah Ferguson) and 
his daughters (Beatrice and Eugenie). 
Experts calculated that Andrew’s 
jaunt cost taxpayers around £4,000, 
when he could have paid just £200 
for a commercial jet. 
In another incident, he spent almost 
£5,000 of taxpayers’ money on a 
helicopter trip to Silverstone so he 
could race around the circuit in a 
Formula 1 car. And in yet another 
instance, he used taxpayers’ money to 
pay for a £2,000 helicopter flight to the 
exclusive Royal Cinque 
Ports golf club in Deal, 
Kent, where he played 
a round of golf.
What an expensive 
prince! 
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Pre-reading 
You’re going to read an article about 
controversies involving two princes. 
One concerns a game of cards, 
another trips abroad. What do you 
think happened? 
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