‘THE QUEEN'S DECISION TO HAVE ANDREW ON HER ARM WAS JAW-DROPPING'

Prince Andrew’s chances of making a return to public life may hang in tatters but there is at least one person who refuses to turn their back on him.

- Duncan Larcombe

Her Majesty’s decision to arrive at Prince Philip’s memorial service last week with the shamed Duke of York on her arm was nothing less than jaw-dropping.

Short of walking through Westminster Abbey’s nave flanked by front-page worthy Will Smith and Chris Rock, it is hard to see how else the Queen could have made such an eyebrow-raising entrance.

A service celebrating the incredible life of her beloved husband instantly became overshadowed by what can only be described as the monarch’s bold and high-risk act of regal defiance.

Until the pair arrived through a side entrance at this most significant of royal buildings, Andrew appeared to be finished.

The friends, charities and golfing cronies all severed their ties with the Queen’s son the moment his sex assault case appeared to be heading to court.