The Queen has marked Prince Andrew’s 60th birthday with a brief message published on Instagram and Twitter. The Royal Family’s social media accounts, which represents the Queen and Prince Philip, wrote: “On this day in 1960, Prince Andrew was born at Buckingham Palace, the first child born to a reigning monarch for 103 years. 

“Happy Birthday to The Duke of York.” 

The message was accompanied by two pictures. 

One, in black and white, shows the newborn Duke of York sitting on the lap of the Queen. 

The second picture is a recent portrait of Prince Andrew.  

The public birthday message wasn’t greeted well by many social media users. 

Some claimed it would have been better not to publicly celebrate Prince Andrew’s milestone birthday as the Duke is still suffering from the backlash that hit him in mid-November, following his car crash interview with Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis. 

The 45-minute-long televised chat focused on the Duke of York’s association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

After it aired, Prince Andrew was widely criticised for failing to express his sorrow for the victims of the former financier and for saying he didn’t regret his relationship with him. 

One social media user responded to the Queen’s birthday message on Twitter saying: “Horrific timing… has the royal household employed a bunch of undercover republicans in its comms team or something?” 

Another said: “Probably not the best idea to talk about anything related to Andrew”. 

A third added: “The Royal Family should have just given him wishes in private, even a private party, if the Queen wants because it’s her son. But, private.

“This was not a wise choice given ALL the issues.”

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