Prince Andrew is ‘very depressed’ as disgraced Duke ‘completely lost’ without royal life
Prince Andrew was pressured to step down as a working royal in 2019
PA
Prince Andrew is set to watch on from the sidelines for a second year running as his fellow Knights of the Garter parade through the grounds of Windsor Castle today.
Though the Duke was permitted to wear his Garter robes at the Coronation last month, the King has deemed the colourful procession a step too far for the chequered past prince.
Ingrid Seward, Editor-in-Chief of Majesty Magazine, believes the decision will prove a major setback for Andrew, who has otherwise been slowly re-integrated to the firm.
Seward told GB News: “Remember, he’s never known anything else except military and royal, and he's not adaptable, he’s not popular, and therefore he has not been able to find anything else in his life so far as we know.
Prince Andrew was permitted to wear the Order of the Garter at the Coronation
PA
“So he really is in a gilded cage, unable really to do anything.”
“He’s never apologised to those women and I think he just doesn’t understand what he’s done.
“I think he’s completely lost and I’m sure he’s probably very very depressed, especially seeing all his family riding at the Trooping on Saturday when only a few years before he was doing the same thing.”
Prince Andrew was pressured to step down as a working royal in 2019 due to his affiliations with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Andrew set to watch on from the sidelines
PAThe Duke was stripped of his military titles, royal patronages and suffix of His Royal Highness.
An alleged victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, claimed she was forced to have sex with the Prince when she was 17 while he was a guest of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Andrew denied the allegations and reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in February last year that contained no admission of guilt.
With the fallout from the settlement still fresh, Prince Andrew was barred from the festivities last year, though he was permitted to attend the investiture and lunch.
The King has been carefully managing Prince Andrew's slow return
PASo last-minute was the call to pull the Prince from the procession that the order of service had already been printed and listed Andrew alongside Prince Edward and his nephew, Prince William, in the parade.
In a show of unity, Andrew appeared alongside the Royal Family for the Christmas Day church service at Sandringham and again at Windsor on Easter Sunday.
The Order of the Garter was founded by Edward III in 1348 to recognise contributions to public service.
There are 24 knights and ladies in total in the order, with King Charles adding two more members of the Garter on St George’s Day.
King Charles has bestowed the honour upon Lord Chris Patten, 79, the last Governor of Hong Kong, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, former chairman of the conservative party, and life peer since 2005.
Also made a member of the Order of the Garter is Baroness Catherine Ashton, 67, the former Labour minister and First Vice President of the European Commission in the Barroso Commission from 2009 to 2014.
Speaking about the additions on GB News, Nigel Farage raised an eyebrow at the fact that both additions are former EU commissioners, and referred to Baroness Ashton as a “long term operative within the campaign for nuclear disarmament who married well.”