A FORMER royal aide has told how Prince Andrew “lunged” at her as she wore a T-shirt with a saucy slogan.
Nicola Palmer, 21 at the time, said: “He looked at my chest. I remember him staring, grinning. I turned and ran upstairs.”
Nicola was a live-in PA at the Duke of York’s former £15million mansion.
Both the Prince and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson were out — but Andrew, 42 at the time, returned early to Sunninghill Park, Berks.
She recalled him twice asking her to explain the cheeky slogan across her chest.
You have to think of me without my pants,” he lurched towards her and she ran off down a corridor.
Nicola, who quit her job as the Duchess of York’s live-in PA after just four months, said: “I was off duty, but I was helping Beatrice and Eugenie’s nanny.
“I got Beatrice’s face-pack on my T-shirt, so I rushed to my accommodation to get another, flung it on without even looking at it, and rushed back.
READ MORE PRINCE ANDREW
“Suddenly I heard a noise, I looked into the corridor and the Duke was there. I waited for him to approach as I was required to curtsy, then he looked at my chest.
“I remember him staring at me, grinning, looking me in the eye and asking me to explain what that meant. I froze.
“I looked at him and said nothing. But then he said, ‘Well, go on’.
“It was very strange. I was considerably younger than him, why was he asking me to explain this?
“But I think he knew what it was, and I felt uncomfortable.
“The next thing, I was fumbling my words and I said, ‘You have to think of me with my pants off.’ I couldn’t think to explain it any other way.
“And with that he seemed to lunge towards me. I turned to my left and ran upstairs to the attic. I screamed for a split second.
“I was alarmed. But when I reached the top I turned around, and he was gone.”
Nicola says she confided in another member of staff. But she did not make a formal complaint as she felt ashamed that she may have unintentionally “provoked” Andrew by wearing the T-shirt.
She said she will never know if he was acting seriously.
Nicola, who had been working at a private hospital, was hired in May 2002 and moved into a small bedroom annexe in the grounds.
She said it was quickly made clear to her that Andrew was “unpopular” with staff.
Then, weeks after her arrival, she was left feeling “uncomfortable” when she climbed on a quadbike in a skirt while he watched.
Nicola said the one she was using to exercise the family dogs after work broke down, and Andrew discovered her in a lane.
She said: “He fixed the bike and then said ‘You get on.’ So I said, ‘No, it’s fine, Sir. You go.’
“He repeated, ‘No, get on.’ Then he said, ‘With all due respect, should you be wearing a skirt while on a quad bike?’
“I replied, ‘With all due respect, should you be standing there while I get on the quadbike in a skirt?’ And he answered, ‘Yes.’
“He was standing on the opposite side, asking me to raise my leg in a skirt to get on.
“I had to hike my skirt up between my legs as he stood there. I felt confident he couldn’t see anything, but I felt intimidated because he was so close. I felt that he knew what he was doing.
“Once I was back on, he insisted I go first. He followed me in his Range Rover, all the way up to the house. It was weird, and I felt very intimidated.”
Nicola, from Loughton, Essex, went on: “I had a very bad feeling about him, like a sixth sense. But I just got on with things.
“If someone did that to me now, I would stand up for myself, but I was in my twenties, I felt privileged to be working there.”
She resigned three months later, telling her bosses that the role “wasn’t for me”.
She said her decision came after she witnessed bizarre behaviour from both Andrew and Sarah, whom he continued to live with after their divorce in 1996.
Nicola continued: “There were always cars being delivered, and one time he got a blue Range Rover. Andrew lost his s*** because he was expecting it to be green.
‘HE WAS SHOUTING’
“He was shouting, and his tone was, ‘How could they do this to me? Don’t you know who I am?’ He could be very odd.
“Once he came into the room where the freezers were, opened them up and started whacking the ice with a chisel. He walked out, leaving ice and water everywhere.
“On another occasion, he took me and another young female staff member to the Royal Lodge to show us around, and in one room announced, ‘This is the room she (the Queen Mother) died in.’
“Sarah told me once she believed that she could feel presences around her, including that of Princess Diana, whose pictures were everywhere.
“She was eccentric, but she could be really nice — at times, like you were her best friend. I liked her. But the household itself was a strange, stressful bubble, which I realised I didn’t want to be part of.
“I’m now very glad I followed my instinct and got out.”
Nicola went on to a series of high-powered positions within the NHS, and most recently worked as Examinations Executive for a private medical charity.
Since April 2021 she has run a successful business called Miss Spirit London, selling luxury “spiritual home products” that match customers’ energy.
She also provides spiritual readings, in a bid to use her gift to “give back” and help others.
She added: “I’d put the whole experience behind me. But then I saw Andrew in the news. Since then, other women have spoken about his behaviour, and I have really addressed what happened to me for the first time in 20 years.
“I find that often women don’t stand by women, and I think we should be united a bit more. Perhaps telling my story will help someone else, as they helped me.
“I’m doing this because I don’t want to be silenced. I want to expose how he behaved.
“I want to help others, and I want to move forward myself.”
Prince Andrew’s spokesperson was approached for comment.
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Last month it was announced Andrew was paying an estimated £12million to settle a civil case brought by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged he assaulted her three times when he was 17.
The Prince has repeatedly denied the claims.
