Why Infuriated Queen Elizabeth And Prince Philip Confined 24-Year-Old Prince Andrew To Barracks

Prince Andrew may be Queen Elizabeth’s favorite son, but that doesn’t mean he has never experienced being reprimanded. In fact, there was a time when Prince Andrew did something that totally enraged his mother and Prince Philip that he ended up in the barracks.

When Prince Andrew was young, he loved pulling pranks and making practical jokes. Compared with Prince Charles, he was more fun-loving and had a more action-man image — something that the Duke of Edinburgh secretly admires him for.

While everybody loved his cool and exuberant personality, there was a time when he went a step too far that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were compelled to make a tough decision just so they could teach him a lesson.

In an article he wrote in 1986, royal journalist Sue Arnold revealed how Prince Andrew drove Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip mad during their official visit to California. The prince’s mischief reportedly went below the belt that his parents decided to finally “read the riot act” to their son.

“Andrew’s romantic escapades, together with some much publicized midshipman japes (he has a penchant for practical jokes), earned him the reputation of Royal Lout-About Town, a label that saddened his mother and annoyed his father,” Arnold wrote.

“It was only after the famous paint-spraying episode on an official visit to California, when Andrew doused a row of photographers with white paint, that his parents finally read the riot act,” he added.

After pulling a prank on the journalists, Prince Andrew reportedly wiped his hands on a piece of newspaper and said he enjoyed what he had just done. “The Duke of Edinburgh put in a furious transatlantic telephone call advising his second son to pull his finger out and grow up,” Arnold wrote.

Enraged, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth decided to confine Prince Andrew to barracks and spend their chastened summer holiday there while his parents cruise on the royal yacht off the Scottish coast.

That was not the first time that Prince Andrew did something that infuriated Queen Elizabeth. During his training at Dartmouth Naval College, he was also caught up in a major row when he and his friends caused mayhem during a charity race.