Not So Admiral Andrew's Birthday Snub

The prince’s 60th is shaping up as a glum affair

- Judy Kean

It was supposed to be a milestone birthday, with a special promotion to honour the occasion. But Prince Andrew’s tarnished reputation means that celebrations for his 60th birthday this week are all but canned.

And his fall from grace after a disastrous TV interview last year about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is also jeopardising another important occasion – the wedding of his daughter Princess Beatrice, who won’t be getting a grand, pomp-filled ceremony like her sister did when she marries Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi on May 29.

Beatrice’s nuptials will be held in a much smaller venue with fewer guests, and won’t be televised live like Princess Eugenie’s 2018 wedding to Jack Brooksbank was.

While Eugenie (29) married at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle – just like her cousin Prince Harry and his bride Meghan Markle – Beatrice is taking her vows at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace.

Insiders say the wedding was initially going to be held at The Guards’ Chapel, St James’s Park, but the venue, which is available to people with military links, had to be changed after Andrew suspended ties with various military associations.

And while some friends say Beatrice (31) prefers to have a low-key wedding, others have pointed out that she doesn’t have much choice in light of Andrew’s behaviour.

The Queen’s second son stepped down from royal duties last November after the BBC interview, in which he failed to explain why he hadn’t cut ties with Epstein, or express much sympathy for the victims of the late US financier.