After his divorce from Sarah Ferguson in 1996, the then Prince Andrew was at a loose end.

A mutual friend told me that he had also realised that “life as the Duke of York without a Duchess was a lonely business”. All eyes were on his elder brother, Prince Charles, stepping out in the open for the first time with Camilla Parker Bowles. Andrew by contrast was a lone figure, flanked by hangers-on at Ascot, reliant on wealthy friends for social sport. Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein had filled the gap, inviting him to glitzy parties in the US. Conversely, the dynamic duo became Andrew’s supportive “gang” at London summer events and society weddings.

Observing all of this was the late Queen Elizabeth, still reeling from the messy divorce of Charles and Diana and her tragic death in 1997. With those family fractures still fresh, the monarch, who was also a matriarch, faced the problem of what to do with a listless second son. So she pressed to make Andrew a global trade envoy, doing something useful for the UK while allowing him to travel widely without the ‘Air miles Andy’ jibe dominating headlines.

The documents on the appointment released last week tell us two key things: first that this was a personal request by Her Majesty, and second that the government was happy to go it along with it without too much scrutiny. In 2001 globalization was spiraling, and traditional western economies saw the challenge of emerging competitors. A burgeoning China was being set for admission........

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