Prince Charles and Prince William have reportedly forbidden Prince Andrew to be involved in any future royal engagement, according to a royal expert.
Earlier this week the Queen attended the memorial service hosted at London’s Westminster Abbey to honour her late husband Prince Philip. She arrived arm in arm with her son Prince Andrew, though it was only decided at the last minute if she would be able to attend the ceremony due to her health.
However, it has been claimed this did not go down well with other members of the royal family, who were “dismayed” by his attendance, and that Andrew sat front row at the service, despite stepping down from royal engagements following the sex assault claims made against him by Virginia Giuffre, which have since been settled with a financial agreement out of court.
It was believed the Dean of Westminster was to walk Her Majesty to her seat prior to the service, and Andrew in tow. However, the 62-year-old royal escorted his mother to her seat, passing through live cameras.
There have been claims the Duke of York will support the 95-year-old royal throughout the Platinum Jubilee service to mark her 70-year reign as British monarch, which will take place at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral in June.
However, the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge insist there is “no way”, he will partake in this year’s celebrations, claim royal commentator, Richard Fitzwilliams, as the father and son have previously addressed their concern Andrew would “overshadow” upcoming events.
Fitzwilliams, told The Mirror: “In terms of royal events, I don’t expect we will see Prince Andrew appear in the near future – if ever again.
“He won’t play any kind of a role in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, of that I think we can be quite sure.
“Prince Charles and William will be totally apposed to it, it’s a non-starter.”
Though some royals are said to be disapproving of Andrew’s recent attendance, and plans to attend future royal engagements, it is believed the Queen orchestrated this to prove a point.
Vanity Fair royal editor, Katie Nichol, said: “The Queen deliberately chose to have Andrew play such a prominent role [because] she still makes decisions.
“This was the Queen’s way of showing two things; one, that the buck stops with her, and she makes the decisions, and secondly that she believes he’s innocent. She made the point very, very clearly.
“But Charles and William were very aware of the perspective, of the optics of this. Unfortunately, this picture [of Prince Andrew escorting the Queen] has overtaken what should have been a memorial to a great man.”
The Queen’s second son found himself involved in the case due to his close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Reports made by Virginia allege she was brought to the UK aged 17 to have sex with the royal. According to Giuffre, she was introduced to Prince Andrew by Ghislaine, but Andrew vehemently denied these claims.
An out-of-court financial settlement has been reached, which Prince Charles reportedly helped fund to ensure the deadline was met.
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