Guards want Colonel Kate to replace ousted Duke
THE Grenadier Guards are lobbying for the Duchess of Cambridge to replace Prince Andrew as colonel.
The Duke of York lost his honorary position after the Queen stripped him of his military and charitable affiliations and HRH title.
The role of colonel returned to the monarch by default but officials are understood to hope Kate, 40, will take on the position.
If she did so, the Duchess would be the first woman appointed colonel in the regiment’s 366-year history.
A senior source in the Grenadier Guards said: “From straw polling through the ranks, they would all love it to be Kate. We all admire the way she has fitted in and behaved. She never seems to put a foot wrong.”
It is understood the announcement of the new colonel was due today but has been delayed.
The source said it was “wasn’t the Duchess of Cambridge”. But the hold-up likely means the regiment has “been thinking about it again”.
The appointment is made by both the regiment and the Queen. Prince Andrew lost the role – inherited from his father Prince Philip when the latter retired from public life in 2017 – due to the sex assault lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre in the US.
Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked by convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to have sex with the Prince three times when she was a teenager. The Duke of York denies the allegations. He is fighting the civil suit as a private citizen.
It has also been revealed Andrew could lose his round-the-clock police protection as early as next month following his exile as a frontline royal.
Sources say a full review of his security is being carried out by the Metropolitan Police and Home Office.
Andrew has so far been allowed to keep his taxpayer-funded police bodyguards at a cost to the public purse of up to £3million a year.
It is the security accompanying him away from a royal residence which is under review.
He will continue to have round-theclock protection at his home, Royal Lodge at Windsor.