PRINCE Andrew faces an extremely low-key 62nd birthday tomorrow with no official Royal events marking it, and no ceremonial ringing of the bells at Westminster Abbey.
The famously party-loving prince is likely to be shunned in the wake of his humiliating £12m settlement with sex crime accuser Virginia Roberts.
Andrew faces life as a Royal pariah after being stripped of his titles and duties amid the scandal.
This week, the Duke of York agreed to the huge settlement with his accuser, rather than face the humiliation of a drawn-out court case during his mother’s platinum jubilee year.
The Queen, Charles, and Prince William are believed to have forced the Duke to settle and step back almost entirely from public life.
His reputation lies in tatters, and Royal experts have warned his chances of being welcomed back into public life are extremely slim.
This year’s birthday will likely see none of the previous celebrations and events that have marked Andrew’s birthday.
It’s also a far cry from previous celebrations thrown by the Duke for both his own birthday, and those of Fergie, Beatrice, and Eugenie.
Traditionally, the bells have been rung at Westminster Abbey to mark the birthdays of all the senior Royals.
But this year the famous peals will not be heard, with Andrew expecting a far-more restrained affair.
Officials have insisted that the decision not to ring the bells for Andrew’s birthday is unrelated to the Duke of York’s recent legal woes.
A spokesperson for Westminster Abbey told The Celeb Report Online: “The Abbey bells can be heard ringing out before services and in celebration of church festivals.
“The bells have also traditionally been rung to mark the birthdays of senior members of the Royal Family.
“Due to the financial challenges posed to the Abbey by the Covid-19 pandemic, and in consultation with Buckingham Palace, the bells will now follow the tradition of royal gun salutes and will ring only for the birthdays of HM The Queen on 21st April, Her Majesty’s Official Birthday in June, and the birthday of HRH The Prince of Wales on 14th November.”
In recent years, the Royal Family has moved with the times and taken to releasing sweet birthday messages to senior Royals on social media.
For Andrew’s 60th in 2020, the official Royal Family Instagram page shared two pictures of the Duke of York, one of him as a baby, one current picture.
Alongside it was the caption: “On this day in 1960, Prince Andrew was born at Buckingham Palace, the first child born to a reigning monarch for 103 years.”
The message was controversial for some, coming just two months after the prince’s car-crash Newsnight interview, in which he told the BBC’s Emily Maitlis he couldn’t sweat and refused to apologise for his association with paedo financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Last year’s birthday message was a more paired-down affair, with the Queen only sharing a message on Twitter, not on Instagram, and scrapping the use of his official title, the Duke of York.
Also, rather than wish her favourite son a happy birthday, the tweet read: “#OnThisDay in 1960 The Queen was safely delivered of a son, the first child born to a reigning Monarch since 1857.
“Her Majesty is pictured holding Prince Andrew in 1961 on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, alongside the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne, and the Queen Mother.”
As well as the Buckingham Palace picture, there was a photo of Andrew’s official birth announcement.
However, the tone of the message seemed to imply that Andrew’s mother had effectively sacked him.
This year, it is suspected that Andrew’s birthday may not be marked by the Royal Family at all.
Royal commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti told The Celeb Report Online: “It’s a tricky one for the royal family because they won’t want to be seen as making a fuss and drawing more attention to him at the very moment he’s in the spotlight for his out of court settlement.
“I suspect any celebration will be done quietly and in private.
“The family may want to mark his birthday but the general mood of the nation certainly isn’t one of celebration when it comes to Prince Andrew.”
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace refused to confirm or deny whether they will officially mark the Duke of York’s 62nd.
Sacerdoti went on: “The Queen has already shunned him in removing him from public royal life and it has been rumoured that Prince Charles put his foot down and insisted on Andrew settling quickly.
“On a personal level they may well wish him a happy birthday in private but I can’t imagine they’d want to do anything very public.
“Any public statement for example on social media would have to be quite perfunctory and minimal so as not to make the royal family seem insensitive to the issues surrounding sexual abuse. “
Royal expert Phil Dampier told The Celeb Report Online: “It would be very surprising if he did anything lavish this year, especially after handing over at least £10m.
“His costs will undoubtedly be cut, along with his celebrations. But Fergie is likely to remain by his side.
“By the time he gets to his 70th, his next landmark birthday, it may be that he has redeemed himself enough to have a more elaborate affair, but that feels a very long way off right now.”
Mr Sacerdoti added: “I think it’ll be very hard for him to make a comeback from this.
“He’s always denied the allegations made against him but by settling before the case reached court he also hasn’t proven himself innocent.
“People have made up their minds about the allegations which are of such a serious nature he may find it hard ever to redeem himself. I suspect he’ll keep a low profile from now on.”
Previously, the Royal dubbed the Playboy Prince was pictured at a number of parties, despite later claiming to Emily Maitlis that he “didn’t party much”.
His 40th birthday was marked by a lavish ceremony at Windsor Castle hosted by the Queen, dubbed “Party of the Decades”.
It was a joint celebration to mark Andrew’s 40th, the Princess Royal’s 50th, the Queen Mother’s 100th, and Princess Margaret’s 50th.
In 2010, Andrew’s 50th birthday saw another huge party which later spilled over into Annabel’s nightclub in Mayfair.
Although it isn’t clear if the birthday boy made an appearance, his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie were both out partying until 3am, while Andrew’s close confidante, glamorous Kazakh socialite Goga Ashkenazi, was also seen at Annabel’s.
It comes as MPs demand the source of Prince Andrew’s settlement cash, with Tory MP Jake Berry calling on the Royals to guarantee that “no money whatsoever” has come from the public purse.
There are calls for a probe into Andrew’s settlement cash, and the reason for his abrupt U-turn, just weeks after insisting on a trial by jury to battle sex trafficking charges.
Prince Andrew’s “billionaire lifestyle” has long been a source of mystery, given that he receives only around £300k a year in his allowance from the Queen and naval pension.
