<\/p>\n
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor could leave the UK for a surprising destination after his fall from grace, a royal author sensationally claims.<\/p>\n
The former Duke of York was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office last week, before being released pending an investigation. It follows a series of damaging releases from the Epstein files that shed light on his time as a UK Trade Envoy as well as his relations with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
After the ongoing scandals of the last few months, which saw Andrew’s royal titles removed and him being forced out of Royal Lodge by brother King Charles, experts speculated whether he may take refuge in the United Arab Emirates<\/a>. Given his close friendship with the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, it might seem an obvious choice.<\/p>\n He had reportedly been offered the use of a luxurious 16,000 sq ft, fully staffed, six-bedroom residence within a secure diplomatic area by the Sheikh, and there he might expect a level of privacy and deference that may no longer be available to him in the UK.<\/p>\n But now, the author behind a biography that laid bare the secrets of the Yorks, has suggested the disgraced royal could move somewhere totally different.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Andrew Lownie told The Express that the UAE option might not be available to him, because the Emirati rulers value their relationship with King Charles and wouldn\u2019t want to endanger that. \u201cIf he were to go to the Middle East, they wouldn\u2019t want to upset the Royal Family,” he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe would have to go with the [British] Royal Family\u2019s approval \u2013 which if that were known would be very unpopular \u2013 because their links with the King are more important than their links with Andrew.\u201d<\/p>\n While Bahrain doesn\u2019t have an extradition treaty with the UK, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa is \u201cvery close to Charles\u201d, Lownie says, and so he\u2019s \u201cnot going to p*** him off\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the disgraced royal might have a more surprising alternative. Stressing that he can only speculate at this point, Lownie told us: \u201cThe other option, because he\u2019s not going to go and join Assad in Moscow, is China.<\/p>\n Mountbatten-Windsor has \u201clots of business activities\u201d in China, Lownie points out. He explained: \u201cHis former secretary Amanda Thirsk works for a Chinese company. He\u2019s very close to the Chinese ambassador \u2013 when no-one went to his birthday party a couple of years ago, the Chinese ambassador turned up.”<\/p>\n Lownie stressed that at present his China theory is pure speculation. \u201cI have no evidence of any of this except my instinct,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that would be a place he could go. He could get lost there, it would be a big \u2018two fingers\u2019 to Britain from Xi Jinping<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mountbatten-Windsor could \u201ctravel around\u201d China with impunity, Lownie believes. He continued: \u201cHe could go and see his mates, go all over the place in a private jet, but that would be a base.\u201d<\/p>\n Pointing out that Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s passport has not been confiscated, Lownie added: \u201cI think he could go under the radar there [in China], in a way that he couldn\u2019t elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n