Now Prince Andrew ‘will chaperone Queen to the Derby’: Duke plans to take his mother to Epsom

Prince Andrew will be accompanying the Queen to the Derby over the Platinum Jubilee weekend this year.

The Duke is planning on escorting his mother to the Epsom race, despite one source telling The Sun that he was meant to ‘stay invisible’ during the weekend celebrations in June. 

The 62-year-old, who settled a sex case with Virginia Giuffre in February this year, was centre in the public eye last week at Prince Phillip’s memorial service. 

‘The Queen needs a chaperone on all occasions at the moment due to her mobility issues and Andrew has earmarked the Derby as the one he will accompany her at,’ the source said. 

‘He just doesn’t seem to understand the public outcry.’

The Duke is planning on escorting his mother to the Epsom race this June. Above, with his late father at the Surrey racing venue

The Duke’s prominent role in last week’s event was said to have left Princes Charles and William ‘dismayed’. 

He was seen walked his mother through Westminster Abbey to her seat in full view of the live broadcast cameras — to the shock of many in the congregation.

Even his siblings were said to be ‘dismayed’ by the stunt, with them earlier hoping ‘common sense’ would prevail and he would accept playing a backroom role in the event. 

But the Queen said that it was her ‘wish and final decision’ for Prince Andrew to walk with her that day.

The Queen said that it was her ‘wish and final decision’ for Prince Andrew to walk with her that day

The Queen arrived at the service holding the Duke of York by the elbow with her left hand and her stick with the right

The Queen walked towards her seat at Westminster Abbey after being accompanied down by the aisle by Prince Andrew

It was the shamed royal’s first public appearance since he paid a reported £12million settlement to Jeffrey Epstein victim Ms Giuffre to end a highly-damaging civil sexual assault case in New York. 

He was forced to step back from public life over his association with late paedophile, Epstein. 

It is reported that Princes Charles and William raised concerns ‘on more than one occasion’ about the optics of allowing the duke to escort the 95-year-old monarch down to her seat at such a well-publicised event.

The Duke of York is understood to have got his way after lobbying to take his 95-year-old mother to her seat because she ‘couldn’t say no to her favourite son’ despite objections from William and Charles, sources claimed. 

A family source said that senior royals – including Prince Charles and the Duke of Cambridge – were ‘dismayed’ by events and that Andrew’s decision to put himself ‘front and centre’ of the service had caused ‘consternation’. Pictured: Prince Charles and Camilla walk down the aisle at Westminster Abbey followed by Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and the Duchess of Cambridge

The Dean of Westminster had been expected to take the Monarch to her seat while the Prince followed behind, according to the order of service. 

After walking arm in arm with his mother, he then sat in the front row next to brother Prince Edward, rather than with his daughters as was expected.  

Critics painted the move as a brazen attempt by the 62-year-old to slide back into the spotlight, hoping it might lead to a ‘mission creep’ return to public life or a ‘springboard’ to appear at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Taking an official role, such as riding in procession for Trooping the Colour, has been ruled out.

A source close to the duke previously suggested the service would mark his final public appearance and that it was ‘highly unlikely’ he would appear at the flagship events to mark the Queen’s 70 years on the throne. 

He was stripped of his military honours and royal patronages, and told by Charles he would be made to ‘disappear’ from public life following his final official outing for his father’s memorial. 

Andrew HRH blunder: Duke of York used axed royal title then hurriedly DELETED it from ‘tone deaf’ Instagram post about his service in the Falklands 

Andrew’s reflection appeared in three posts on the Instagram account of his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and were signed off ‘HRH The Duke of York’. The post was then apparently changed to remove the HRH before being deleted

The Duke of York said he returned from the Falklands War ‘a changed man’ in a piece of writing posted to his ex-wife’s Instagram account — before it was hurriedly taken down.

Prince Andrew wrote more than 700 words about his experience in the Falklands in three posts – which were removed after about two hours – on the Instagram account of Sarah, Duchess of York.

Beneath the last post, it said it was ‘written by HRH The Duke of York’ before the ‘HRH’ was deleted.

The Queen’s son flew missions as a Sea King helicopter pilot during the conflict. 

It is understood that Andrew’s reflections on the Falklands were not seen by either the Queen or Buckingham Palace before they were posted. 

Senior royal sources described the post as ‘tone deaf’ and ‘extraordinary’. 

In his posts, the the 62-year-old concluded: ‘So whilst I think back to a day when a young man went to war, full of bravado, I returned a changed man.

‘I put away childish things and false bravado and returned a man full in the knowledge of human frailty and suffering.

‘My reflection makes me think even harder and pray even more fervently for those in conflict today, for those family’s (sic) torn apart by the horrors they have witnessed.

‘And, i’m (sic) afraid to say, that the historical perspective my short war has taught me is this – war is failure to keep peace; war is failure of human judgement; war is failure to recognise we need to seek permission to understand another persons perspective or reality, whether or not we agree or disagree with that perspective or reality.’

His reflections on Sarah’s Instagram account came on the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War.

On April 2 1982, Argentine forces invaded the islands, which had been in British hands since the 19th century, sparking the sending of a Royal Navy task force south to recapture them.

The resulting naval and land campaign led to the recapture of the islands on June 14 at the cost of 255 British lives. About 650 Argentines died.