What does outcast Prince Andrew do all day? Hours slumped in front of a giant TV and aching for the packed diary he used to revel in. As the Duke of York faces a crunch moment in his ‘sex abuse’ case, RICHARD KAY reveals the royal’s hollow existence

The scene is the Ashley Room at the Stower Grange Hotel, an elegant coaching inn set in its own grounds in the village of Drayton, a 15-minute drive from the centre of Norwich.

Some 36 infantry officers and men, both serving and retired, have come together for the annual Christmas dinner of the Grenadier Guards Norfolk Dining Club, a small and exclusive association for grenadiers of any age or rank living in Norfolk, Suffolk and neighbouring counties. 

All those present are wearing the regimental burgundy and navy blue striped tie; and the informal evening, which marks the 25th anniversary of the club, glows with seasonal conviviality.

No one looks happier to be among these old comrades than Prince Andrew, the Colonel of the Grenadiers, an honorary role he inherited from his father Prince Philip and who has pride of place in the official photograph.

The stay-at-home Prince driving around Windsor this week. Andrew is an outsider, an outcast, in fact — not precisely shunned, but forced to avoid many of the people and places that mean most to him

Tomorrow, almost exactly three years on from this jolly occasion, the dining club will once again be meeting for its Christmas social.

But this time there will be no welcoming remarks from the regimental colonel as the men sit down to their £30-a-head, three-course lunch.

As the coffee and mince pies are passed around and old stories of derring-do exchanged, Andrew will be 150 miles away watching television at home in Royal Lodge, in Windsor Great Park. 

To a man whose whole life was once centred around the military, it is a poignant, painful and lonely moment.

Andrew is an outsider, an outcast, in fact — not precisely shunned, but forced to avoid many of the people and places that mean most to him.

It is more than two years since Prince Andrew’s withdrawal from all official duties because of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and vital areas of his old life have been closed to him. (Above, the Prince riding around the grounds of Windsor this week)

The trial of Andrew’s friend Ghislaine Maxwell has brought more shuddering reminders of their overlapping links. None more powerful than the photograph, released this week by prosecutors, of Epstein and his then girlfriend cuddling up on a bench at the Queen’s picnic cabin at Glen Beg on the Balmoral estate — paedophile and alleged procurer side by side in one of the most private and intimate of royal settings

It is more than two years since his withdrawal from all official duties because of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and vital areas of his old life have been closed to him.

The trial of his friend Ghislaine Maxwell has brought more shuddering reminders of their overlapping links. 

None more powerful than the photograph, released this week by prosecutors, of Epstein and his then girlfriend cuddling up on a bench at the Queen’s picnic cabin at Glen Beg on the Balmoral estate — paedophile and alleged procurer side by side in one of the most private and intimate of royal settings.

The picture was taken in 1999, three years after Andrew’s divorce from the Duchess of York, and the Duke had taken his then new friends Epstein and Maxwell for a weekend stay on the Queen’s estate.

It was not their only experience of royal hospitality. They were invited to a shoot at Sandringham, were visitors to the Royal Enclosure at Ascot and on the guest list for one of the most lavish parties ever thrown at Windsor Castle.

But there was more. Who can forget that other damning photo of the grinning Ghislaine, this time with disgraced actor Kevin Spacey foolishly posing on the coronation thrones during a private tour of Buckingham Palace, organised by — who else — Prince Andrew?

How the Queen’s second son must yearn for those uncomplicated days. The final month of the calendar used to arrive with the promise of some of his favourite events.

The Duke of York, in his role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, in 2019. More than anything he would like to play his part in next year’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the Queen and have a role in commemorations to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands war in which he performed with conspicuous bravery

In 2018 — the last December in which Andrew carried out royal engagements — there was a Buckingham Palace lunch for past captains (like him) of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and a reception for the Outward Bound Trust.

Further ahead, in his role as Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm, he could look forward to visiting the home base of the famous 617 Squadron at RAF Marham and, as royal colonel of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, to presenting operational service medals to soldiers of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland.

The loss of each and every one of these privileges has been like a sabre thrust into his life.

But glimpses of his past do still remain. Just the other day he was photographed riding at Windsor in a waterproof jacket bearing the Grenadiers’ historic motto, ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ — shame upon he who thinks evil of it.

It is a saying embedded in royal history. But flaunting it now demonstrates either remarkable chutzpah from Andrew or an example of princely arrogance.

Either way, it does suggest that despite the catastrophes of his fall from grace he remains a man impervious to public opinion.

Or perhaps it is a not-so-subtle attempt by Andrew, 61, to remind people of nothing more than his hopes of one day resuming his old life. And, to be fair, friends of the Duke insist there is nothing hubristic in his choice of rainwear and it is simply the case that he ‘just grabs whatever comes to hand’.

Riding has become his most visible and regular activity. Usually accompanied by one of the royal grooms from the Windsor Castle mews, he saddles up twice a week for an hour’s canter around the estate.

‘It is,’ I am told, ‘the only moment he has in the week to decompress. It is his escape from everything else that is going on around him.’

As one friend of the Prince puts it: ‘If you consider that the Duke has essentially been in lockdown at Royal Lodge since November 2019, then an occasional riding expedition does not seem unreasonable.’

So what of that dream of picking up the pieces of his former life? More than anything he would like to play his part in next year’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the Queen and have a role in commemorations to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands war in which he performed with conspicuous bravery.

Even the most generous of Andrew’s supporters see this as a forlorn hope.

Next week, the latest instalment in his legal battle with Virginia Giuffre is due to be heard in a New York courtroom, where he has been accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually abusing her when she was 17.

On Monday, his lawyers in California are set to deliver their final submissions to the court before a decision is taken on January 4 as to whether the Prince will face trial.

Ms Giuffre, also known as Virginia Roberts, has accused Andrew of ‘rape in the first degree’ and claimed that he forced her to have sex with him three times in 2001 — at Maxwell’s London home, in New York at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and on the dead financier’s Caribbean island.

Next week, the latest instalment in Andrew’s legal battle with Virginia Giuffre (above) is due to be heard in a New York courtroom, where he has been accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually abusing her when she was 17

This week, the Duke, who strenuously denies the allegations, was reported to have instructed his U.S. legal team to ‘cancel Christmas’ in an effort to leave no stone unturned in the lead up to the critical new year hearing.

While friends denied suggestions that he has become ‘stressed’ by recent events, they also insist that neither was he overly confident, despite those pictures of him smiling during a recent ride out.

As one figure put it: ‘No one is feeling smug, nor is anyone full of the joys of spring.’

The opening of the Maxwell case has been an additional distraction. I am told that while Andrew’s legal team has been following every twist and turn, they are not expecting anything of ‘substance’ to damage Andrew. 

‘Glancing blows, not body blows,’ as one insider put it. ‘The point is, this is Ghislaine’s case, not the Duke’s.’

From his home he has regular conference calls with his lead UK lawyer Gary Bloxsome, a criminal defence solicitor at City-based Blackfords, and with £1,500-an-hour American attorney Andrew Brettler. 

Their strategy is to have the ‘baseless lawsuit’ thrown out, claiming that Ms Giuffre is looking to ‘achieve another payday at his expense’.

Daughters Beatrice and Eugenie are key members of his support group (above, in 2016). ‘They are the main cheerleaders, geeing him up when he is down and above all believing in him,’ says one of the family’s old friends. ‘Life for the Duke has become quite small compared with what it was. There is no riotous range of activities going on’

If it doesn’t succeed, Andrew knows he faces a long haul in the fight to restore his reputation.

New York district judge Lewis Kaplan has said he is looking at a trial date between October and December 2022.

Everyone agrees that the cost of defending the Prince is ‘eye watering’. And while Andrew is said to be concerned over the financial burden he has placed on the Queen, who agreed to meet his escalating court costs, he is not obsessing about it.

So apart from those riding trips, how is Andrew passing the time?

A charity entrepreneur who called at Royal Lodge recently with an appointment to see Fergie reveals that after being let in to the property by a butler, he was shown to the Duchess’s quarters.

En route he passed what he understood to be the Duke’s large and airy ground floor office. Through the doorway he could see the back of a figure he took to be Andrew slumped on a sofa. A huge television was on.

When he emerged from his hour-long meeting with the Duchess and retraced his steps, Andrew was still in front of the TV.

Keeping his head down has become more than just shorthand for brushing off inquiries about the Duke’s daily routine.

Apart from riding, the only other times he is seen is at the wheel of his car heading from Royal Lodge to Windsor, where he pays regular visits to his mother’s rooms at the castle.

Using largely private roads, he has the drive down to ten minutes taking the Long Walk — the route of Prince Harry and Meghan’s post-wedding carriage drive — and in to the castle via the Cambridge Gate. Seeing his mother and new grandchildren, Beatrice’s Sienna and Eugenie’s August, is one of his few diversions from the case.

Daughters Beatrice and Eugenie are key members of his support group. ‘They are the main cheerleaders, geeing him up when he is down and above all believing in him,’ says one of the family’s old friends. ‘Life for the Duke has become quite small compared with what it was. There is no riotous range of activities going on.’

And the ever-present Fergie? ‘She is his wingman,’ says the friend. ‘She’s got no one else and nor has he. They are like two lost souls.’

Domestic comforts are plentiful, however. Royal Lodge has a butler and deputy butler, while a chef comes over from Windsor Castle.

Sometimes food is sent over from the kitchens at the castle, while an estate gardener occasionally helps out with local driving duties.

Andrew also still has use of a valet, but a part-time dresser who had previously been in the household is understood to have left.

In previous years, Royal Lodge hummed with the excitement of the Christmas season, but it is thought that, for the second year running, there will be no staff parties. ‘Those were the kind of events the Prince lived for,’ says an ex-employee. ‘He loved a good knees-up and was always very generous.’

There have been no trips to his favourite West End restaurants or dropping in to society carol concerts, once such a vital part of his life. All in all, the loss of both a social and public life have been hammer blows to his ego.

Who would have imagined such a scenario when the Prince was growing up? As a teenager the Queen’s handsome — and favourite — son had enjoyed schooldays at Gordonstoun as much as Prince Charles had hated it.

By 20, he had been in the Navy a year at the start of a distinguished career, the highlight of which was his service as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands, flying dangerous decoy missions luring Argentine missiles away from the Fleet.

Epstein arrived in his life as his Navy days were coming to an end. Andrew shared his landmark 40th birthday party with his sister Princess Anne, 50, aunt Princess Margaret, 70, the Queen Mother, 100, and his nephew Prince William, who had turned 18.

Epstein and Maxwell were on his guest list — and they have hung over his life ever since.

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