Andrew, 59, was said to have feared that his presence at the official bash for Beatrice, 31, and her fiance Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, a 34-year-old property entrepreneur, would embarrass their guests.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment yesterday. 

However, one source said Prince Andrew thought it would not have been a “good look” amid the continuing ­controversy over his friendship with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The FBI is investigating claims that the billionaire trafficked young women to have sex with his famous friends – ­including the Duke of York, an allegation Andrew denies. Hollywood star Robert De Niro, singers Ellie Goulding and James Blunt and Robbie Williams’ wife Ayda Field – regular panellist on ITV’s Loose Women – were among guests spotted at the party at the fashionable Chiltern Firehouse in London on Wednesday. Beatrice’s sister Eugenie and their mother Sarah, Duchess of York, were in the thick of the A-list bash.

Other guests included Strictly star Emma Thynn, Pippa Middleton and husband James Matthews. The couple’s wedding early next summer is likely to be a less public affair than that of Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. 

The couple went on a carriage drive around Windsor after marrying at the Castle in October last year.

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