Smiling Prince Andrew returns to the fold as he leads royals into church after William pulls out
27 February 2024, 16:09 | Updated: 27 February 2024, 17:27
A smiling Prince Andrew was seen leading the royals into a memorial service for King Constantine of Greece after Prince William was forced to pull out due to a personal matter.
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Andrew was joined by Sarah Ferguson and Princess Beatrice as he led the Firm into Windsor Castle for the service.
It comes despite the late Queen removing his HRH title and banning him from royal duties as he faced sexual assault allegations - all of which he has strongly denied.
But a royal watcher told MailOnline: "Prince Andrew and the Yorks are firmly back in the fold."
Queen Camilla was the only senior royal to attend - with cancer-stricken King Charles absent as well as William and Kate.
Others at the service included Princess Anne and Zara and Mike Tindall.
William, who was due to deliver a reading, reached out to the Greek royal family who were attending the service in St George's Chapel to let them know he was unable to attend.
Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.
The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.
King Constantine of Greece died on January 10 last year at the age of 82 after months of illness, more than 50 years after he was exiled in a military coup. He was nephew to the late Duke of Edinburgh and godfather to Prince William.
His funeral in Greece was attended by Princess Anne, the late monarch’s second cousin, and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.
King Charles was not due to attend the memorial in Windsor after drawing back from public life following his cancer diagnosis.
Reacting to Prince William pulling out of attending the memorial service, Dr Gavin Ashenden, former chaplain to the Queen and Associate Editor of the Catholic Herald and co-presenter of the Catholic Unscripted Podcast, told LBC News he doesn't think the Royal Family should have adopted the open approach the public has seen in recent years.
"I think they're completely wrong to do that...
"If you begin to say, well, people are so desperate to know all the private details that we're going to turn it into a kind of a branch of the Home Office where you're entitled to ask questions and have them answered. It's no longer the monarchy, it's part of the civil service. So I think that the monarchy made a great mistake when they allowed the cameras in.
"And I think pandering to popular appetite for information, I think it's also a mistake. I think what it does is it makes them part of the political administration. They need to be part of the monarchy, they're entitled to do myth and it's bad for us to know everything we want to know."
Prince William, 41, held an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle earlier this month and attended a London Air Ambulance charity gala dinner later that evening. He attended the BAFTA awards last week where he met with filmmakers and stars before giving out more awards at a second investiture today.
This month King Charles was diagnosed with cancer and the Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital for abdominal surgery. The type of cancer King Charles is battling has not been revealed but it was reportedly caught early and the King has been undergoing ‘regular treatments’ since.
The Princess of Wales was admitted to the London Clinic for a planned operation on January 16.
She is not expected to return to official duties until after Easter and William temporarily stepped back from royal roles to juggle caring for her and the children.
