What We Know About Prince Andrew's Strange Teddy Bear Collection
Prince Andrew has had his share of attention, not all of it positive. The second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip came under heavy scrutiny for his controversial friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, followed by a scandalous lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse. When he tried to redeem himself with a tell-all interview with BBC's "Newsnight" program, he succeeded only in having a Netflix movie made about the disastrous results.
The movie, "Scoop," debuted on the streaming service in April 2024, revealing and explaining some of the serious issues the Duke of York has faced. The show also included one tiny, forgotten detail about his life: Prince Andrew has a teddy bear collection.
This isn't the first time the royal's teddies have been in the spotlight, but the sight of the numerous stuffed animals on the faux prince's bed in the movie brought so many questions out of hibernation. Perhaps the most pressing is whether or not he has such a collection in reality, and what the story behind it is so far. While it's hard to know the whole truth, we do know a bit about his penchant for cuddly toys.
Prince Andrew started his honeymoon with a big teddy bear
Prince Andrew has been caring for bears of the stuffed variety for quite some time. Princess Eugenie, Andrew's youngest daughter with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, once posted a "Throwback Thursday" tribute to her parents on Instagram. A picture of Prince Andrew as a very young child shows him grinning happily while clutching an upside-down teddy bear.
Queen Elizabeth's third child didn't just stop with one lone childhood bear, though. It seems that over the years, he amassed a collection that at one point hit the number 72, most of which were gathered quite intentionally by the royal himself. "I've always collected teddy bears," Andrew confided about his family of stuffed animals, as reported by The Sun. "Everywhere I went in the Navy I used to buy a little teddy bear, so I've got a collection from all over the world of one sort or another."
He's also been gifted bears, one of which made quite a public splash in 1986. When Prince Andrew set off on his honeymoon after marrying Sarah Ferguson, they rode away from Buckingham Palace in an open carriage — that also held a large teddy bear dressed in a bright-blue bow. The third passenger was a gift from his brother, Prince Edward, who sneaked the bear into the carriage. After the teddy's trip, he earned a permanent spot in Buckingham Palace, guarding the prince's personal rooms.
He can't bear to see his teddies in disarray
While Prince Andrew lived the lavish life going away on luxury vacations, his precious teddy bears stayed home to mind the blankets — a great many of them had a prominent position on his bed in Buckingham Palace. Charlotte Briggs was a maid in the royal residence in the '90s, and was tasked with handling the fuzzy toys on a daily basis. "He absolutely loved the teddies and was very clear about how he wanted them arranged," she told The Sun about Prince Andrew's Papa Bear personality.
She also shared it took a full day to be teddy-trained, learning strict instructions on how the stuffed toys should be positioned before the prince went to bed at night, then again after he got up in the morning. "Everything had to be just right," Briggs explained. "It was so peculiar."
A few other animals have made it into the stuffed bunch, including hippos and a panther, reports The Sun, but teddy bears comprise the bulk of the collection. And the majority of those bears, detailed Briggs in The Sun, were all dressed up for a ride on a boat. In a nod to Prince Andrew's time as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy, where he served for over 20 years, his fuzzy friends are dressed in sailor suits.