THE Union Flag will no longer be flown from government buildings for any of the Queen’s children — in a move said to spare Prince Andrew’s blushes.
The Celeb Report forced a government climbdown in February after we revealed an order was still in place to mark the disgraced Duke of York’s 60th birthday.
After a string of councils refused to obey the flag-flying diktat, it was quietly dropped.
Now we can reveal the government has withdrawn the honour for all of the Queen’s children’s birthdays — a change thought to have been signed off by Her Majesty herself.
Insiders said it was “so as not to upset Andrew, who is decidedly prickly on these sorts of matters”.
And another source agreed: “It is widely considered to have happened to avoid embarrassment for Andrew.”
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Latest rules also remove Princess Anne, Prince Edward and even Prince William and Kate from the government’s flag-flying guidance to local government.
Andrew’s exit from royal duties over his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and sex abuse allegations against him caused uproar.
Last night, the government said: “Since 2021, the default position is the flag flies all year unless another flag is being flown.”
