ROYAL biographer Robert Hardman has said that at least four government departments have questions to answer about the activities of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

He told the Camilla Tominey Show on GB News: “I see it playing out slowly and painfully.

“It’s extraordinary to think that the Andrew-Epstein saga is now in his 16th year. It was back in 2010 that this all really began with that Mail on Sunday image of Andrew in the park with a convicted pedophile. And then the following year, the image of him with his arm around Virginia Giuffre, and it just wouldn’t go away.

“It sort of flatlined for a few years. Then, of course, along came the catastrophic Newsnight interview in 2019 when Andrew pretty much sort of shot himself with regards to any continued public role, and it’s just got worse and worse ever since.

“And the latest cache, there’s these millions of files, we’re still going through them. We’re still finding out more things. And of course, one thing leads to another. Just in today’s papers, so you’ve got former Prime Minister Gordon Brown demanding to know about flight logs. Were RAF jets involved?

“As far as I can see, there are at least four government departments that have questions to answer. It was Downing Street back in 2001 that appointed him as a trade envoy. He was acting on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry on trips organised by the Foreign Office, during which he was protected by Met Police officers answerable to the Home Office.

“So quite apart from all the questions to the Palace, they’ve got many questions to answer too. This has a very long tail.”

He added: “We are in the realms of a crisis. I think up until Andrew’s arrest, we were in the realms of a very serious scandal. But it is a crisis. It’s a crisis of confidence and reputation.

“The stories today showing that people were pointing out some of Andrew’s contacts and associates were pretty dubious. That’s been going on for 10 or 15 years. It goes back several governments and, of course, back into the reign of the late Queen.

“It’s not just a palace issue. It goes wider than that. We are still not in the same position we were in back in the mid 90s, when you had a series of crises that were casting doubt on the very integrity of the direct line of succession, if you like.

“Let’s stand back. This involves a fringe royal who’s going nowhere except further out into outer darkness.”