The Grenadier Guards reportedly want the Duchess of Cambridge to replace Prince Andrew as colonel.
Prince Andrew had been colonel of the regiment since 2017 when he took over the role from the Duke of Edinburgh, who had held the appointment since 1975.
The Queen, 95, has taken the role by default after she stripped the scandal-hit prince of his military titles following news that his civil sex case will go to trial.
It has now emerged that senior members of the Grenadier Guards are lobbying for the Duchess of Cambridge to be made colonel.
The appointment would make her the first female colonel in the regiment’s 366-year history.
A senior member of the regiment told The Sunday Times: “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.
“Everything she has taken on she really commits to, and we want someone who will really engage with us."
The Grenadier Guards greeted the news that Prince Andrew had been stripped of the title with “three cheers” for the Queen.
Lieutenant General Walker said in an email sent to all troops: “I am sure you will offer a personal ‘Three Cheers’ for the colonel, an appointment she first held in 1942, 80 years to the day on February 24 this year.”
Formed in 1656 by Charles II, the Grenadier Guards have fought in almost every major campaign of the British Army, including the Napoleonic, Crimean, Boer, First and Second World Wars.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre has accused Prince Andrew of sexually abusing her in New York, London and the US Virgin Islands when she was a teenager. He denies the allegations.
