B
ack 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.
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 anAndrew met up with his old
flame in 1998 when he opened
a photographic exhibition in
London – Koo has worked as a
photographer since the 1980s.ANDREW FALLS FOR AN UNSUITABLE WOMAN
‘EROTIC’
ACTRESS
Prince
Andrew
and the
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 friendsat 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
20