Back in the early 1980s, New York actress Koo Stark dated Prince Andrew after they met at his birthday party. She would have become part of the royal family, were it not for her tarnished past – a history which is said to have upset the deeply conservative Queen.
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At the age of 17, Koo appeared in the film Marquis de Sade: Justine, described as an erotic drama where a man imagines “naked tortured women”. She had also starred
in the movie The Awakening of Emily, which featured an infamous lesbian shower scene.
“Compared to Lady Diana, Koo was the scarlet lady,” says Katie Nicholl, author of Harry: Life, Loss and Love.
“She was an actress who had taken part in some pretty risqué films and she wasn’t deemed at all suitable for a prince.
“In those days, a prince of the realm might have had an actress as a mistress – just like his ancestors would have done – but never a wife,” says royal watcher Ingrid Seward, author of Diana: An Intimate Portrait.
With Koo deemed unsuitable, the couple called it quits in 1983.
Hounded to the end
Koo has spoken openly of her relationship with Andrew and claims the media pressure was insurmountable.
“My own experience is, of course, very well-documented,” she said in a 2016 open letter to The Mail on Sunday.
“I began dating Prince Andrew, then second-in-line to the throne, after we were introduced by mutual friends at his 21st birthday party in February 1981.”
“After he returned from the Falklands, a handsome royal war hero, the press were in a frenzy.”
Koo then explains that the press discovered they would be holidaying in Mustique and the couple landed to find themselves amidst a paparazzi storm.
“We landed in Mustique and immediately found ourselves subjected to a frenzy of media attention.
“We had managed to be together for about a year-and-a-half before we were discovered, and the point at which we were finally exposed and hounded by the press was rather emotional for both of us.
“We carried on despite the attention and there was, from that point, a bounty on my head,” she says.
Defending the prince
Despite ending their relationship, Koo and the prince remained close friends. When Andrew was accused of keeping an “underage sex slave” in 2015, it was Koo who rushed to his defence.
“Prince Andrew is a dear friend of mine and godfather to my daughter. I’ve only known him to be honourable and honest, with Christian values. I dismissed this latest story as just another sexual slur to add to the list of criticisms of him in recent years,” Koo wrote in a piece for The Mail on Sunday in 2015.
“My first reaction was fury, then disbelief at the lurid allegations being made against a man I have known for more than 30 years.”
Koo also detailed time with Andrew, describing their instantaneous connection and the speed with which she became his girlfriend, explaining that the months that followed were “some of the happiest memories I have of my life.”
Koo went on to describe Andrew as “a nice man, a tender, loving, caring and normal boyfriend”.
However, the American admitted that they were seen as somewhat of an unusual couple, given Koo’s preference to abstain from alcohol and practice yoga – a trend not yet fashionable in the 1980’s – a habit that rubbed off on Prince Andrew.
“Andrew adopted the practices he found useful for his health and I never minded being considered eccentric for standing on my head!” she admitted.
“He’s a man whose efforts have been – unfairly – more often met with criticism than praise.”
For more, see this week’s New Idea – out now.
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