Prince Andrew breaks one of the royals' biggest rules
Prince Andrew has just broken one of the royal family’s biggest rules, after offering up his two cents on the often-divisive topic of Brexit.
The Queen’s second eldest son committed the gaffe in an ITV interview where he said it would ‘make no difference’ to entrepreneurs if Britain left the European Union.
"Businesses could be successful either inside a large internal market, or operating in an even larger external market,” he said.
"There are swings and roundabouts to all these sorts of things."
A big no no
Due to their unelected position of power, the royals usually steer clear of voicing their political opinions to the point they don’t vote in general elections or referendums such as Brexit.
This neutral stance means Meghan Markle has remained tight-lipped on her political leanings since joining The Firm - despite once calling Donald Trump "misogynistic...and so vocal about it."[
The Queen has long kept her political views to herself and has made a habit of never disclosing what she discusses with the UK prime minister during their weekly meeting.
That’s not to say that the rule hasn’t been broken before, however.
Prince Charles has been criticised on numerous occasions for expressing political opinions – most famously with the so-called ‘black spider memos.’ These are letters written over many years by the Prince of Wales to British government ministers and politicians, and they’re made more controversial by the fact that Charles will one day be King.
READ MORE: The Queen only saw her children for around 20 minutes a day, says royal biographer
While Prince Andrew’s royal status may prove problematic when attempting to voice political opinion - he’s not completely unqualified to offer his analysis on Brexit.
The duke was the UK’s trade envoy until 2011, and made these contentious comments during Pitch at Palace, a business summit he started to give a platform to help British start up companies.
He has also recently made headlines amid rumours of a potential reunion with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson after the duo’s famously-close relationship was thrust back into spotlight following Princess Eugenie’s wedding last year.
