Prince Andrew's private life and household routines are facing renewed scrutiny after multiple former palace staff revealed the Duke of York's obsessive insistence on having his teddy bear collection arranged daily in a specific formation. Royal author Tom Quinn detailed the long-standing behavior in his latest book, Yes, Ma'am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, based on interviews with past and current staff.
According to Quinn, Andrew, 65, possesses a collection of around 20 to 30 teddy bears, each of which must be carefully positioned in a pyramid shape on his bed every morning. Failure to meet the duke's expectations reportedly results in outbursts of frustration. "He is quite eccentric, and he has a collection of teddy bears, which he insists are placed every day in a certain position... a pyramid shape. And he gets very cross if it's not done properly," Quinn told Fox News Digital.
Quinn elaborated, "He has a member of staff who puts the teddy bears in order. There are quite a few-20 or 30-in the position that he likes every day. And I know that in the past... if they're not placed exactly as he wants, he can be quite short-tempered and angry about it."
The revelations add to Prince Andrew's reputation for being "entitled and quite bad-tempered," according to Quinn. The author suggested that Andrew's demeanor may stem from long-standing frustrations about his role within the royal family. "A lot of his bad temper, I think, is frustration because, in many ways, he felt he would be a better king than Charles, his brother," Quinn said. "He's less introspective, he's less sensitive. He's more of a tough guy."
Former staff members also claimed that Andrew shows favoritism to the few employees who are able to consistently meet his detailed standards, particularly the staff assigned to arrange his stuffed toys. "So when he finds someone who is very good at it, he clings to them, and he gets the same person to do it every day," Quinn added.
The prince's fascination with his teddy bears is not a recent development. Former Buckingham Palace maid Charlotte Briggs previously told The Sun that she was responsible for arranging Andrew's soft toys every morning during her time in the mid-1990s. Briggs claimed, "As soon as I got the job, I was told about the teddies, and it was drilled into me how he wanted them. I even had a day's training. It was so peculiar."
She alleged that the process took her half an hour daily, describing the collection as including old-fashioned Steiff bears, many dressed in sailor suits. The arrangement extended beyond bedtime, with the bears relocated throughout the room each evening. According to Briggs, "His two favorite bears sat on two thrones on either side of the bed. The others would sit at the foot of the bed on the floor."
Quinn's book further claims that Andrew's fastidious behavior extends to staff appearance and conduct. He recounted that one employee was allegedly reassigned because Andrew disliked a facial mole, while another was moved for wearing a nylon tie instead of a silk one. "He's really fussy about things that the rest of us really would think were irrelevant," Quinn said.
This isn't the first time Andrew's quirks have come under public examination. In the Netflix drama Scoop, which dramatizes the infamous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, actor Rufus Sewell portrays the duke berating a maid for misplacing teddy bears. Additionally, former Royal Protection officer Paul Page claimed in a 2022 ITV documentary that he saw "about 50 or 60 stuffed toys" on Andrew's bed, accompanied by a laminated chart instructing staff on their correct placement.
Adding to the intrigue, royal historian Garreth Russell recently told GB News there remains uncertainty about Prince Andrew's finances, as he continues to reside at Royal Lodge despite losing financial support following his 2022 sexual assault settlement. "Certainly, the King has made it very clear what he wanted to happen," Russell stated. "But at the minute, I think it's very clear to all of us that the King is quite frustrated with the way this has played out."
