The obvious next step should have been command of a frigate, but the feeling was that Andrew had neither the abilities nor the desire to take this path. He was tipped as second-in-command of the warship HMS Cumberland, commanded by his brother-in-law, Captain Tim Laurence, Princess Anne’s husband, but the expected move never happened.
Passed over for promotion to commander three times, he was told by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Jock Slater, he had no future in the Senior Service, and it was announced that Andrew would leave the Navy in 1999 after 20 years.
Part of the problem, it was claimed, was his lack of a university degree and that he had no aptitude for maths. But a senior officer put his failure to make progress down to ‘a lack of application and a lack of attention to fulfilling his duties properly’.
In the event, the prince would stay much longer in the service than intended. A job was found for him in the Directorate of Naval Operations at the Ministry of Defence and he was promoted to commander – probably at the instigation of Charles, who ‘talked’ to a few admirals about finding a role for his brother. The suspicion was that the Royal Family was keen to keep Andrew within the structure and discipline of the Royal Navy.
There were mutterings of preferential treatment, however, from fellow officers. One said: ‘Everyone knows he only got this job because it is a swan-about and will enable him to travel the world, shaking hands and playing golf.’ As if to prove the point, on his second day in the post the prince was playing 18 holes in an inter-forces tournament.
Andrew’s eventual leaving in July 2001 was marked by an interview with the MOD’s in-house journal, in which he claimed to be worn out from working 14-hour days. ‘I was doing too much.’ This caused a chuckle among colleagues, given that ‘he always leaves here with the rest of us at 6pm’.
interesting! , the royal family apparently wanted him to stay in the navy ( obviously to keep him out of trouble!)
the obvious comparisons are clear here , I won’t insult people’s intelligence by pointing it out!