LONDON - Prince Andrew, the second son of
Queen Elizabeth, said on Wednesday he saw no reason why British
businesses could not survive Brexit and the recent visit of
President Donald Trump had shown him the issue would also not
effect US relations.
The royal family is expected to remain neutral on political
matters and has mostly avoided making any reference to Brexit,
although the 93-year-old queen issued a delicately coded message
to lawmakers in January, urging them to seek common ground.
Britain is still wrestling with how, when or even if to
leave the European Union, with many business leaders fearing
that if there were a no-deal exit from the bloc it would cause
serious economic damage.
Many of the candidates seeking to replace Theresa May as
prime minister, including the favourite Boris Johnson, have said
they would leave without a deal on Oct. 31 when Britain is
currently due to leave if no agreement could be struck.
"Businesses we see could be successful either inside a large
internal market, or operating in an even larger external
market," Andrew, 59, told ITV News at a "Pitch@Palace" event
where entrepreneurs pitch ideas to business executives.
"There are swings and roundabouts to all these sort of
things."
In his interview, Andrew also referred to state visit
earlier this month by President Trump, who promised Britain a
"phenomenal" post-Brexit trade deal, saying he did not think
Brexit would effect relations and the special bond between the
nations remained "sound and good".
"The conversations that were had were entirely constructive
and positive, from both the president, the prime minister and
ministers on both sides," said Andrew, officially titled the
Duke of York, who accompanied Trump to a visit with business
leaders.
"I got a sense it made no difference whether we were staying
in or leaving, there was still going to be a very close
relationship with the United States on a whole range of issues -
not least in the business world."