Prince in ‘shameless’ Falklands statement

PRINCE ANDREW was last night forced to remove a post celebrating his Falklands War service after it sparked a furious backlash.

The Prince, who relinquished his social media accounts in January, marked the 40th anniversary of the conflict in a statement posted on the Instagram site of his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.

In it, Andrew – a helicopter pilot who flew decoy missions to confuse Argentinian guided missiles during the war – said he had returned from the Falklands ‘full in the knowledge of human frailty’.

Recalling being shot at during an attack on the Atlantic Conveyer vessel in May 1982, he added: ‘The terror that that was going to be that, just for a moment, has had a lasting and permanent effect on me.’

Andrew also said he had returned from the war ‘a changed man’ and that the experience had forced him to ‘put away childish things and false bravado’.

Social media users said the ‘repulsive’ message showed he had ‘no sense of propriety’.

One wrote: ‘Another example of offensive, entitled, arrogance from a man... shamelessly placing himself in front us and expecting adoration.’