The Duke of York's apparent obsession with teddy bears, specifically how they are arranged on his bed, has been portrayed in a scene in new Netflix film Scoop.
The thriller, which came out on Friday, relives Prince Andrew's friendship with disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, as well as his car-crash interview with Emily Maitlis on Newsnight.
© NetflixIn one scene, Andrew, played by Rufus Sewell, is watching a news report about how Epstein has just been arrested on federal sex trafficking charges.
He then turns around to see a palace chamber maid, incidentally played by Kate Winslet's daughter Mia Threapleton, arranging his teddy bears on his bed – but not in the right order.
You can watch the moment below.
"How many times?" an exasperated Duke says to her. "How many times?"
"I'm sorry," she says.
Picking up one teddy bear, he asks in a patronising tone: "Where does he go? Simple question. Where does he go? A clue: He's a marsupial. 'Roo', as in 'kanga', put them together, what do you get?"
"Roo-kanga," she says, after a brief pause.
"Go away! Go away!" an angry Andrew shouts.
© NetflixThe Duke's fascination with his teddies was, apparently, not unfounded. According to The Sun, Andrew said back in 2010: "I've always collected teddy bears. Everywhere I went in the navy, I used to buy a little teddy bear, so I've got a collection from all over the world of one sort or another."
In 2022, Charlotte Briggs, a former Buckingham Palace maid, also told the publication that she was responsible for arranging the Duke's toys in order of size every morning, back in the nineties when Andrew, now 64, would have been in his mid-thirties.
© Getty"As soon as I got the job, I was told about the teddies and it was drilled into me how he wanted them," she said. "I even had a day's training. It was so peculiar. After all, he was a grown man who had served in the Falklands.
"Each had to be carefully positioned. They were old-fashioned teddy bears – the Steiff ones – and nearly all of them had sailor suits on and hats. It took me half an hour to arrange them.
"Then at bedtime I had to take all the teddies off and arrange them around the room. They each had a set place. We had to stack the smaller ones in an unused fireplace, again in size order, to make them look pretty. His two favourite bears sat on two thrones either side of the bed. The others would sit at the foot of the bed on the floor."
Former royal protection officer Paul Page, who worked at Buckingham Palace from 1998 to 2004, also revealed in 2022 ITV documentary Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile that he would regularly see around 50 or 60 stuffed toys on the Duke's bed.
"There was a card in a drawer and it was a picture of these bears all in situ," he said. "The reason for the laminated picture was if those bears weren't put back in the right order by the maids, he would shout and scream."
After Andrew vacated his apartment at Buckingham Palace in 2023, after being told he could no longer use his suite by his brother King Charles, it's believed his stuffed toys were relocated to his primary residence in Windsor, Royal Lodge.
When Andrew does spend the night in London, he makes use of St James's Palace.
LOVE THE ROYALS? JOIN THE CLUB!
If you are reading this, the chances are you are obsessed with all things royalty – which is just as well because so are we! So obsessed, in fact, we’ve launched a club solely dedicated to covering them. So welcome to The HELLO! Royal Club. We would love you to join us there…
What is it?
Interactive community offering behind-the-scenes access, exclusive royal interviews, unmissable royal insights, and an illustrious royal Inner Circle.
Member benefits
- Two weekly newsletters, one from Emily Nash
- Video posts and audio notes from Emily Nash and the HELLO! Royal team
- Access to our royal community and opportunity to interact with club writers and members
- Participate in polls, comments and discussion threads
- Access to our Ask Me Anything sessions with our journalists
- Invitations to in-person and virtual events
- A subscription to the digital edition of HELLO! Magazine (Worth £82 annually)*
- Future ‘Inner Circle’ benefits
By royal decree
You are royally invited to join The HELLO! Royal Club – and then to go forth and spread the word to your fellow royal fans. See you in the club!
