Duke of York plucked from Garter ceremony

The Duke of Cambridge warned the Queen he would feel uncomfortable taking part in the Order of the Garter ceremony alongside his disgraced uncle, the Duke of York, it is understood.

The Prince of Wales also made an eleventh hour intervention amid fears of a public ‘‘backlash’’.

The pair shared their concerns with each other before taking them to the Queen on Sunday. As a result, Her Majesty reluctantly told her second son that he could not appear in public at the event ‘‘for his own good’’.

As the news emerged just hours before the Windsor Castle ceremony was to begin, the Duke was at pains to portray it as a ‘‘personal decision’’ he had made after realising the ‘‘timing was not right’’.

‘‘He does not want to do anything that would embarrass the Queen or make things difficult,’’ one source said.

But Buckingham Palace aides told a different story, describing it as a ‘‘family’’ decision.

So last minute was the intervention that the order of service had already been printed, listing the Duke’s position in the procession alongside the Earl of Wessex and directly ahead of Prince William.

The seating plan also showed that the Duke had been given top billing, positioned between the Princess Royal and the Duchess of Cornwall for the service at St George’s Chapel.

Instead, the Duke joined the Queen and rest of his family only for the investiture in the castle’s

Garter throne room and the traditional lunch that takes place afterwards in the Waterloo Chamber, both behind closed doors.

The move prevented him from being photographed alongside other royals in the Order’s extravagant velvet robes and plumed hats.

The Duchess of Cornwall took part in the procession for the first time, having been appointed a Royal Lady of the Order of the Garter. Baroness Amos was also appointed to the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry, as was Sir Tony Blair.

For the Duke, his absence was just the latest humiliation. His fate was sealed after the Telegraph revealed that he had been lobbying the Queen for a return to royal duties and was even pushing to have the colonelcy of the Grenadier Guards returned to him.

The Duke had been looking forward to taking part in the Garter procession, the first for three years, and had considered it a small step on the way to his return to some form of royal life.

The last minute ban is indicative of the royal family’s sensitivity to the strength of the public feeling about his ‘‘pariah’’ status, after he paid his sexual abuse accuser about £12 million (NZ$23M) to settle a high profile, and highly damaging, civil case in February. The Duke has always denied any wrongdoing. – Telegraph Group