Ex-Prince Andrew Made Strange Call to Victoria's Secret CEO

Ex-Prince Andrew, the former Duke of York, makes a grimacing face while wearing a top hat on day five of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse on June 22, 2019 — (Image credit: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images)

As more revelations about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s friendship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to emerge, it’s been revealed that the ex-duke once made a strange phone call to former Victoria’s Secret CEO, Les Wexner. The 88-year-old businessman was an associate of Epstein’s until 2007 and sold the convicted pedophile his “Lolita Express” private jet. Because of his past ties with Epstein, Wexner was recently subpoenaed to speak to Congress, during which he revealed the bizarre interaction with Andrew.

Per the Sun, Wexner revealed that the former Duke of York once called him to talk about an unusual subject. “I had no conversations, interactions with Prince Andrew about women or anything. I had one brief, like two sentence funny conversation [with Andrew],” he shared.

The co-founder of Bath & Body Works, Inc. continued that Andrew “called me here in Columbus” to discuss, of all things, airplanes. “I said, ‘Hello.’ and he said, ‘Uh, you know, I helped my mother buy her airplane and I know that you buy and sell airplanes, so if I could be of service, with you and airplane transactions, I could help,” Wexner said.

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor sitting in a plane and laughing — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is pictured at the Biggin Hill International Air Show in 1983.

Wexner revealed that he said “No, thank you. We’re covered and have a nice day,” but found the whole interaction to be hilarious. “I just kind of laughed my ass off that the Duke of York called me about that,” he added.

While the former Duke of York served in the Royal Navy and flew helicopters during the Falklands War, Wexner said he had no idea why Andrew decided to call him offering his flying expertise.

Per the Sun, a member of the House Oversight Committee asked, “So, he offered to advise you on purchasing an airplane?” adding he was “just trying to understand why” Andrew would’ve called Wexner about the topic. “Yeah, me too. It was out of the blue,” the businessman replied.

Mountbatten-Windsor, who formerly worked as a trade envoy to the U.K., was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on February 19 after emails allegedly revealed he’d shared confidential information with Epstein. However, it’s unclear whether his phone call to Wexner took place during the time period when he was serving in his envoy role.

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Kristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor. She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means.

Prior to working at Marie Claire, she wrote about celebrity and royal fashion at Page Six Style and covered royalty from around the world as chief reporter at Royal Central. Kristin has provided expert commentary for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, US Weekly, the Today Show and many others.

Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel, history, horses, and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world, London.