The book, the title of which alludes to the rise and fall of the medieval
House of York, focuses on the public and personal lives of
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and
Sarah Ferguson. The biography, which tells the story of "a spoilt prince unable to connect and a duchess pushed by her insecurities into a desperate need to maintain the attention her 'royal' status brought," is − according to the author − based on court papers, freedom of information disclosures, interviews with ex-staffers and correspondence. Apart from the positive statement that the prince showed authentic courage when he flew helicopters in the
Falklands War and the thoughtful statement of former military comrades that behind the bright facade of the youthful sunny boy there lay a lonely and insecure soul, the book is mostly critical about Andrew, whom it portrays as short-tempered, vain, arrogant and sex obsessed. According to the author, the Prince never found a way to transform his war heroism into a fulfilling civilian role, either personally or professionally. Lownie claims Andrew and Sarah had both met
Jeffrey Epstein prior to 1999, despite Andrew's claims to the contrary. Among other topics discussed are Andrew's sexual habits, including a trip to Thailand that involved more than 10 women a day going to his hotel room over the course of his 4-day stay. Lownie also recounts an incident involving Andrew reprimanding a palace employee for not using the proper name and title when referring to his grandmother
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and calling him a "fucking imbecile". A spokesperson for Harry subsequently stated that Harry and Andrew "have never had a physical fight, nor did Andrew ever make the comments he is alleged to have made about the Duchess of Sussex to Prince Harry". In its initial publication, the book claimed that Melania Trump was introduced to Donald Trump through Epstein. HarperCollins has removed those passages and recalled approximately 60,000 copies of the book that contain those passages, issuing an apology to Melania Trump. ==Reception==