Prince Andrew's fall from grace; royal banned from lavish banquet

Prince Andrew is still prohibited from representing the royal family amid his sexual abuse allegations from a former Jeffrey Epstein victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

This was made even more evident during a lavish banquet attended by his brother Prince Charles in honour of the Grenadier Guards. A source told The Sun that the embattled royal was only allowed to attend a conference with army colonels in secret. But he was "banished from dinner."

Palace insiders reportedly confirmed that the Duke of York was prohibited from representing the Grenadier Guards. A source called it "quite a fall from grace" when Prince Andrew "sat at the back of the room" and "was not allowed to dine" with Prince Charles.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Clarence House said of the banquet, "The Grenadier Guards were represented by the Regional Lieutenant-Colonel, who is Lieutenant-General Roland Walker."

Prince Andrew is facing allegations of "rape in the first degree" from Giuffre. She claimed the royal sexually abused her when she was still a minor. She was reportedly lent to him by Epstein. Following the accusations, the duke fled to the Scottish Highlands at his mother's estate in Balmoral at the start of September.

He was there for nearly three weeks and was pictured in a good mood as he came out from hiding at the end of the month to return to London and visit Princess Beatrice and see his new granddaughter. The princess gave birth to her first child on Sept. 18.

Apart from that, the Duke of York has relatively kept a low profile as his legal team prepares to handle the rape case. He has already been served with the civil case which Giuffre filed in a New York court and has until Oct. 29 to respond. The initial deadline was supposedly on Oct. 11 but his lawyers requested an extension in exchange that he abide by the legal procedures.

Prince Andrew stepped back from his public duties "for the foreseeable future" in November 2019 because of his association with the alleged sex trafficker Epstein. He made the announcement via a statement shared by the official Twitter page of Buckingham Palace.