PRINCE Andrew has ballooned up towards 15 stone after comfort eating during an uneasy standoff with his brother over the future of his Royal Lodge home. Royal insiders have told how the Duke of York has abandoned a diet he began at the start of the year which was said to have put him in a foul mood. Andrew, 64, has a history of yo-yoing weight, like his ex-wife Fergie , and a fondness for school dinner-style food that has not always been helpful to his waistline, according to royal authors who have followed his life.
“He often diets, a bit like Fergie, who has been a regular dieter, “ said biographer Andrew Lownie, who has spoken to 100 people so far in preparation for a book about Andrew and his ex-wife that he is writing in spite of the Duke’s efforts to persuade friends not to speak to him. But Lownie suggested the diets were often short-lived. “He can go up and down between 13 and 15 stone,” he said.
Royal biographer Margaret Holder said Andrew had a history of weight problems stemming from his upbringing. “He was quite chubby as a child but then so were Charles and Anne at times if you look back at the pictures,” she said, acknowledging that there was a fashion for bonnie babies after the war. “He was institutionalised from childhood, from palace to boarding school, to Navy, and back to palace.
” His favourite food is said to be a Sainsbury’s meat and potato pie, so much so that the RAF used to buy them to serve him on royal flights when he was still u.