The royals - Kitty Kelley [170]
Weeks later, Faber & Faber, T. S. Eliot’s publisher, announced plans to publish a book with the photograph of the naked Prince Andrew puppet.* This time, instead of threatening a lawsuit, the Palace tried the tactic of shame.
“The Queen’s press secretary rang me up,” recalled Mathew Evans, chairman of Faber & Faber, “and said, ‘We are very disappointed that a publisher of your standing is marketing this tasteless book. We request that you do not reprint any more copies.” Evans immediately upped the print order to five hundred thousand copies, and the book became a national best-seller.
“The Queen was hopping mad,” recalled a secretary. “She said she didn’t see any difference between the prestigious publisher of T. S. Eliot and the lurid Murdoch press.”
Her Majesty had previously sued Murdoch’s Sun for publishing breakfast-in-bed details about Prince Andrew’s entertaining women in his private apartment at the Palace. “The women were always young and fanciable,” a former Palace pantry aide told the tabloid, “and Andrew was always so sure of his chances—so cheeky—that he would order double bacon and eggs the night before.”
In selling his story, the former aide violated the confidentiality agreement he had signed as a condition of employment. The Queen was more incensed by his breach of contract than she was by his revelations. But Murdoch’s paper paid the servant more than half ($3,500) of what he made in one year working for the Queen. So the former kitchen helper spilled the beans. He said Andrew’s lover, Koo Stark, romped through the Palace kitchen in short skirts and skimpy T-shirts, wearing the bright red dogtags that Andrew had given her after the Falklands War. The actress, four years older than Andrew, issued orders to the staff, organized picnics for herself and the Prince, and helped herself to the Queen’s favorite chocolates. The first installment of the story ended with a titillating headline about the Princess of Wales: “Tomorrow: When Barefoot Di Buttered My Toast.”
The Queen, who was on tour, contacted her lawyers in London, and within hours they obtained a permanent injunction. The next day’s headline: “Queen Gags the Sun.” The Queen then sued Murdoch for damages, and the Palace justified the monarch’s unprecedented action with a terse statement:
The servant has breached an undertaking of confidence which all palace employees sign. In this declaration, they agree not to make any disclosures about their work at the palace. It is a legally binding document under civil law.
“We might have to move toward some policy of sanction,” the Palace press secretary warned royal reporters. “The line must be drawn between legitimate public interest, which all members of the royal family recognize, and prurient interest in their private lives.” The Queen was awarded damages of $6,000. The Sun agreed to pay the amount to the Newspaper Press Fund, plus payment of the Palace’s legal costs.
The Duke of Edinburgh phoned his son and told him that his love affair with Koo Stark was over. “It’s finished, Andrew,” Philip said sternly. The twenty-three-year-old prince did not even think of protesting. He was too afraid of his father and too afraid of embarrassing his mother. In love, but immobilized with fear, he did not know what to do. So he did nothing. Despite avowals of love to Koo Stark and a marriage proposal, he now drew back. He never apologized or explained. He simply did not call her or accept her calls.
“Koo Stark’s life was ruined as a result of Andrew,” said her friend Louise Allen Jones.
Although stunned and heartbroken, Koo Stark departed gracefully and maintained