A source quoted by the Evening Standard stressed that “the Duke of Cambridge was adamant.” They added: “If York insisted on participating in public, he would retire.” At the event, Sir Tony Blair, the Duchess of Cornwall and Baroness Amos were awarded Britain’s highest royal knighthood. It is understood that the Duke of York had the right to attend only the non-public aspects of the ceremony. These included a private meal. A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: “The Duke of York will attend the ceremony and dinner today, but will not be part of the procession or service.” Responding to the report on the threat of the Duke of Cambridge, the Daily Mail editor Richard Eden wrote in a Twitter post: “Good on William!”. Prince Andrew was seen arriving at Windsor Castle before the event earlier today. READ MORE: Sunak will release more tax misery to companies that have been severely affected They added that William and Charles hoped that “common sense” would prevail and that Prince Andrew would not seek to play a prominent role in the event. This was his first public appearance since the completion of the US civil case brought against him by prosecutor Virginia Giuffre. The Duke of York has consistently denied all allegations made against him by Mrs Giuffre. However, commentators suggest that a return to public life remains highly unlikely. Nick Goldstone, head of dispute resolution at the law firm, once told Express.co.uk in February that the Prince was likely to make efforts to “recover”. Despite this, the legal expert predicted that he would remain “off stage”.
