The Queen sent a "very clear" message about the role Prince Andrew will play in the royal family's future by choosing to walk into the Duke of Edinburgh's memorial arm-in-arm with him, a royal expert has claimed.
Long rumoured to be the Monarch's favourite child, the disgraced Duke supported his mother as she walked into Westminster Abbey amid her current mobility issues.
Today's service of thanksgiving was the first major royal engagement Andrew has been allowed to attend since being stripped of his titles earlier this year. It's also the first time he's been seen in public since he settled his civil sex case with Virginia Giuffre.
Many commentators were outraged to see Andrew playing such a major role in the occasion, however royal expert and former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt believes she used the opportunity to send a clear message.
He said: “It didn’t happen by chance.
“He could have sat in the congregation with others, with his relatives, but they actively decided that he would have this role of supporting her.
“So she has chosen, in essence, to remind people that he hasn’t admitted any wrongdoing, he’s not guilty of anything, he’s innocent.
“And she’s very clearly stating that he has a role at family occasions.”
Prince Andrew was one of the 30 mourners allowed to attend Philip's funeral last year, which took place in strict Covid lockdown.
However social distancing meant he had to sit away from his mum and the rest of the royal family.
Mr Hunt says he found the Queen's decision "fascinating" and highlighted how making him so visual risked reminding everyone of the “many errors of judgment that have led him to being removed from public life”.
He said: “It’s one thing to accept that he should attend his father’s memorial service.
“It’s quite another thing to then give him quite a prominent role, so it was an active choice to give him such a prominent role.
“Did William and Charles try to intervene? And clearly if they did then they failed.
“I think you have to start from the basis that Charles and William will have been in the driving seat with the Queen of removing Andrew from public life.
“Both of them will have been very aware of the risks of Andrew having this role. So either they decided that they could justify it on the basis that it was an event for his father, or they did try to suggest this wasn’t a good idea and the Queen chose not to listen to them.”
