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The Duke of York served as the UK’s special representative for trade and investment for 10 years – a spell that ended in July 2011 as his suitability for the job came under scrutiny. A key reason for this was his link to Epstein – who was due to stand trial for sex trafficking last year before he killed himself in prison. Andrew has also been accused of having sex with trafficking victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre on three separate occasions. Buckingham Palace has denied these claims, saying they are “false and without foundation”.

But this did not prevent Andrew from stepping back from royal duties after a disastrous interview with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis last year.

The Duke of York has also come under scrutiny for his conduct in royal settings, as seen in 2013 when he was embroiled in a heated exchange with a Buckingham Palace guard.

In 2013, two heavily-armed policemen confronted the Duke as he attempted to enter the palace, and his bemusement became clear in witness accounts.

A royal source told the Daily Mirror: “He was incredibly, incredibly angry. It was very much a case of guns being pointed at him and ‘halt who goes there.’”

Andrew reportedly stood his ground asking the officers “Don’t you know who I am?” and was said to have “made his thoughts plain” during the highly-charged row.

The source added: “It got pretty heated because he just kept repeating himself ‘Don’t you know who I am?’

“He felt the officers had sneaked up on him and believed they had behaved disrespectfully towards him.

“He gave them a proper dressing down, shouting at them like a schoolteacher before he walked back to the main house – completely livid.”

The police later issued an apology to the Duke.

In return, Prince Andrew issued a conciliatory statement, saying: “The police have a difficult job to do balancing security for the Royal Family and deterring intruders, and sometimes they get it wrong.

“I am grateful for their apology and look forward to a safe walk in the garden in the future.”

The prince had just returned from a two-week holiday in Spain with his former wife Sarah, the Duchess of York, and their daughters Beatrice and Eugenie.

Prince Andrew’s unfiltered tone had also been highlighted in 2010 after a US Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan hit out at the prominent royal’s conduct while meeting in the country’s capital of Bishkek.

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The two-hour engagement, which happened in 2008, reportedly saw Andrew attack Britain’s corruption investigators in the Serious Fraud Office for what he called “idiocy”.

He is also said to have launched a tirade against journalists and the French during an “astonishingly candid” performance at an official engagement that shocked a US diplomat.

Tatiana Gfoeller, Washington’s ambassador to Kyrgyzstan at the time, recorded in a secret cable that Andrew spoke “cockily” at the brunch with British and Canadian business people, leading a discussion that “verged on the rude”.

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