Will the Guards give Andrew his marching orders?
AS A distinguished helicopter pilot who was hailed a hero for his role in the Falklands conflict, Prince Andrew’s military roles could not be a bigger source of pride to him.
But I hear he’s going to come under renewed pressure to step down as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards in the new year — and insiders predict he will be gone by the time of Trooping the Colour next summer.
‘Representations are going to be made to the Palace that we can’t continue with him as Colonel,’ a military source tells me. ‘We need a Colonel who can represent us in public. He is casting a shadow over the regiment and causing us embarrassment.’
This week, the Grenadiers recruited the first woman since the regiment was formed in 1656, but the source claims the scandal surrounding the Duke is putting off others.
Andrew stepped back from public duties ‘for the foreseeable future’ four days after his disastrous Newsnight interview in November last year. ‘The circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work,’ he admitted.
He hoped his status change would be temporary, but many organisations either dropped him or accepted his resignation, including the English National Ballet, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Outward
Bound Trust. Yesterday, Buckingham Palace named the date of the next Queen’s Birthday Parade as June 12 and Andrew would normally be expected to ride alongside Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince William and the Duke of Kent.
This year, Andrew’s blushes were spared because Trooping the Colour was replaced by a small ceremony at Windsor Castle.
It will be a very awkward conversation when the Queen tells Andrew he must step down as Colonel. He replaced Prince Philip in 2017, but, even then, many of the guardsmen were said not to have wanted him.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman says: ‘The Duke of York’s statement from November last year still stands.’ A Ministry of Defence spokesman declines to comment.