A FORMER Royal police officer has claimed he would have knocked Prince Andrew out if he'd asked him to pick up his golf balls.

Paul Page, who served the Royal Family for six years as an armed protection officer at Buckingham Palace, described the Duke of York as a "f***ing a***hole and a bully".

Last week, it was reported that Andrew would order Royal police to retrieve his stray golf balls while he practised his swing in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.

Resurfaced reports from a palace insider claimed members of the elite Royal police squad, who were supposed to be guarding the Duke of York, were ordered to act as ball boys for Andrew while he practised his stroke in the Buckingham Palace garden.

An on-duty officer would be told to stand around 100 yards away and then run around retrieving golf boys after the prince struck them.

In 2008, a source told the Mail Online: "Andrew would occasionally come into the gardens carrying his clubs and hit a few balls making his close protection officer collect them for him."

Speaking to The Sun Online, Page confirmed that he had seen the Duke demand police pick up his golf balls a number of times, but hadn't been asked personally himself.

"If he had asked me to pick up his golf balls, I'd have f***ing knocked him out," he said. "I'm from the East End, I wouldn't stand for that."

Page added: "Just because you have a Royal title, it doesn't mean you can treat people like that. Andrew treated his staff like s***.

"He's a f***ing a***hole and a bully."

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Page previously told The Sun Online Prince Andrew told him to "f*** off" after the Duke sparked a security scare on Buckingham Palace when police saw a figure wandering in the Queen's private apartments while Her Majesty was away.

The Duke of York, dressed "scruffily" and wearing a tracksuit, turned on armed police after they apologised for investigating a possible intruder at the Palace.

Andrew replied: "This is my house, I go where I want, now f*** off."

The prince, a keen golfer, has this month given up his membership of a number of prestigious golf clubs, including The Royal and Ancient Club of St Andrews, known as the "Home of Golf".

He had held the membership since 1992, but has given up his honorary membership as he prepares to face a public civil lawsuit.

Prince Andrew has long been called out for his alleged behaviour towards some of his staff.

In Nigel Cawthorne's 2020 book Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace, he quotes an aide as saying: "I've seen him treat his staff in a shocking, appalling way.

"He's been incredibly rude to his personal protection officers, literally throwing things on the ground and demanding they 'f***ing pick them up'.

If he had asked me to pick up his golf balls, I'd have f***ing knocked him out

"No social graces at all. Sure, if you're a lady with blonde hair and big boobs, then I bet he is utterly charming."

Last week, in another damaging allegation, an insider claimed Andrew shouted at a female gardener just days after being served with his sex-abuse writ by Giuffre.

They said Andrew reacted in an "over the top" way when he "yelled" at a woman over some trees he felt had been cut wrongly.

"Andrew is under a great deal of stress but it's no reason to take it out on staff doing their job," he said.

"She had nothing to do with the damage and felt it was unfair. After all, it's only a few saplings."

Page also brought up Andrew letting Ghislaine Maxwell visit him at the Palace without signing her in, a major breach of Royal protocol.

He said he was told by a member of Royal staff: "There's an appointment for the Duke of York, don't put them in the log."

Page told The Sun Online that when he looked in the log, he saw that the name was Ghislaine Maxwell.

In his lawyers' response to a civil case brought by Virginia Giuffre in New York, Andrew has denied being close friends with Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted last month of five charges of sex crimes against minors.

But earlier this month, Page claimed in the ITV programme Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile, that Jeffrey Epstein's "madam" visited the Duke at Buckingham Palace up to four times in a single day.

In fact, he told ITV's Ranvir Singh that he "suspected" Maxwell and the Queen's second son may have had an "intimate relationship".

He said: "From the way she was allowed to enter and exit the Palace at will, we realised… suspected, that she may have had an intimate relationship with Prince Andrew."

One colleague "remembered her coming in four times in one day, from the morning until the evening," he said.

This was backed up by banker Euan Rellie, who remembered Andrew arriving at events organised by Maxwell, and said she described him as "her friend, not Jeffrey's".

He told the interviewer: "I got the sense that Prince Andrew and Ghislaine had probably been girlfriend and boyfriend in the past. They had an easy warmth around each other."

Page was jailed in 2009 for his part in a £3m property scam, setting up a sham company and tricking colleagues and loved ones into giving him money.

"I've admitted my crimes, and I've served my time," he said.

Last week, Andrew demanded a jury trial in an 11-page legal filing, after losing in his efforts to file a motion to dismiss.

Giuffre alleges that she was trafficked by convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Epstein and forced to perform sex acts with the Royal – claims Andrew denies.

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