Prince Andrew feels ‘lonely without his parents’

The Duke of York has been “lonely” since his parents died within 18 months of each other, his former wife has revealed.

Sarah, the Duchess of York, said that Prince Andrew, who was extremely close to his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, thought about them often.

The late monarch died last September aged 96, while the late Duke of Edinburgh died in April 2021 aged 99.

The Duchess, 63, remains close to the Duke, 63, and still lives with him at Royal Lodge in Windsor, albeit with their own rooms.

The couple share custody of the late Queen’s beloved corgis, Muick and Sandy, which she revealed had helped her to maintain the recommended level of exercise as she recovers from recent breast cancer surgery.

The Duchess underwent an eight-hour single mastectomy around three weeks ago after a routine mammogram revealed she had an early form of the disease.

Discussing their joint care of the dogs on the latest episode of her Tea Talks podcast, she said both she and the Duke had taken them to the place where the late Queen walked them in Windsor – a woodland walk made especially for the monarch.

“It was very moving actually,” she said.

“At one stage we both, Andrew and I, just sat quietly under some really beautiful trees and I asked him if he was all right without his mum and dad.

“He said it’s lonely. He thinks about it a lot.”

The Duchess added: “It was actually very wonderful to have a moment to really remember because this time last year the Queen would have been going to Balmoral and we would have walked exactly where we walked yesterday together, and then the Queen would have said ‘see you up in Scotland’.”

She said people processed grief in different ways and her husband was “human like everybody else”.

“Grief is a really interesting thing – it comes up in tidal waves, then it goes away again, and you cry and you’re sad, and then you just keep going and the next day it’s OK, or the next minute.”