Andrew preferred to visit ‘sophisticated countries’, letter sayspublished at 11:51 BSTBreaking
Mountbatten-Windsor had a preference for visiting “the more sophisticated countries”, and “should not be offered golfing functions abroad”, according to a letter released as part of the documents.
The letter is dated 25 January 2000 and is written by British diplomat Kathryn Colvin, though it is not clear who the letter was for.
It includes notes from a meeting she had held with Mountbatten-Windsor’s then-private secretary Captain Neil Blair.
Colvin writes she was told that Prince Andrew was “particularly good on high-tech matters, trade, youth (including primary schools and outward bound projects), cultural events, with a preference for ballet rather than theatre, the Commonwealth and military and foreign affairs”.
Captain Blair, according to the letter, said Mountbatten-Windsor “tended to prefer the more sophisticated countries, particularly those in the lead on technology”, Colvin added. A line after that is redacted in the released document.
She continued: “Captain Blair particularly asked that The Duke of York should not be offered golfing functions abroad. This was a private activity and if he took his clubs with him he would not play in any public sense.”
- In a statement, the government says it has redacted documents “to remove the bare minimum of personal information and information whose release would prejudice international relations”.
An extract of the letter as it appears in the documents
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.bbc.com ’
