Andrew forced to pull out of his only Jubilee event – because he’s got Covid
THE shamed Duke of York will miss the only Jubilee event he was invited to after testing positive for Covid, it emerged last night.
Prince Andrew was due to join the Royal Family today at the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral.
On the eve of the event, it was announced that disgraced Andrew, 62, will not be there. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘After undertaking a routine test, the duke has tested positive for Covid and with regret will no longer be attending.’
It is understood Andrew saw the Queen, 96, in the past few days but has been testing regularly and has not seen her since he tested positive. Her Majesty tested positive in February, and was said to have had ‘mild cold-like symptoms’, and later said it left her feeling her ‘very tired and exhausted’.
Andrew was forced to withdraw from public life in November 2019 due to his association with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein’s sex trafficker girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. He was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages in January this year, and can no longer use the title HRH. In March, he paid millions of pounds in an out-of-court settlement to Virginia Roberts, who had accused him of rape. Andrew denies the allegations.
As he is not a working royal, the duke did not appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace alongside the Queen during Trooping the Colour yesterday. His last public appearance was at the memorial service for the Duke of Edinburgh in March – said to have left the family ‘dismayed’ as he escorted the Queen to her seat, so soon after his settlement with Miss Roberts.