Outcast Prince Andrew took a solemn horse ride around Windsor Castle today while the rest of his family led VE Day celebrations in London.
The Duke of York, 65, was seen reflecting aboard the mount as he trotted along the grounds of the Berkshire home.
Dressed in a gray rain jacket and dark navy trousers, the royal was accompanied by a female groom.
It comes as the Royal Family otherwise turned out in force for the London occasion, to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day this afternoon.
King Charles and Queen Camilla were joined by Prince William, Kate and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis to watch the procession of 1,300 members of the armed forces and Nato allies.
The Duke’s outing also follows the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre last month.
Ms Giuffre settled out of court with Prince Andrew in 2022 after she accused him of sexual assault.
She had claimed in 2011 she was sex trafficked to Prince Andrew on three occasions by Epstein and former socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, starting from when she was 17.
The Duke of York, 65, was seen reflecting aboard the mount as he trotted along the grounds of the Berkshire home
Outcast Prince Andrew took a solemn horse ride around Windsor Castle today while the rest of his family led VE Day celebrations in London
Dressed in a gray rain jacket and dark navy trousers, the royal was accompanied by a female groom
Prince Andrew’s appearance also marks the first time he has been spotted this week amid the revealing exclusion.
He is not the only one whose absence has been keenly felt as the celebrations come three days after Prince Harry’s bombshell plea for ‘reconciliation’ following his court defeat.
The Duke of Sussex had appealed a decision that downgraded his level of protection after he and Meghan stepped down as working royals in 2020 and left Britain for Montecito, California.
On Friday, he lost his attempt to overturn the Home Office’s decision at the Court of Appeal – a ruling he has since furiously described as a ‘good old-fashioned Establishment stitch-up’.
In a blistering attack on his family, the Royal Household and the Government, the duke said he was ‘worried’ that the ruling has ‘set a new precedent that security can be used to control members of the family’.
‘And effectively what it does is imprison other members of the family from being able to choose a different life,’ he added.
Harry’s bombshell interview with the BBC was met with a wave of criticism after he complained that his cancer-stricken father, King Charles, ‘won’t speak to me’ and claimed he ‘doesn’t know how much longer he has left’.
Today, the royals observed a military procession from a specially built dais on the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace while thousands of people packed the streets as four days of commemorations began.
The Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Prince Louis and Prince William at VE Day 80 in London today
King Charles III salutes during the military procession to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day in London today
William shook the hand of one veteran as he passed him to take his seat, and his children followed his example with Kate the last to greet the old serviceman and she sat beside him. He later appeared to show her some photographs.
Louis then briefly struggled to gain the attention of his father – tapping his shoulder repeatedly while William was in conversation. After a few moments, William turned to his son and they spoke. George, Charlotte and Louis were last seen together in public when they attended the Christmas Day church service on the Sandringham estate.
Hundreds of street parties are also being held across the country today while formal military events take place in London, with the procession involving 1,300 members of the Armed Forces from Parliament Square to the Mall.
This will be followed by the Royal Family watching a flypast of iconic Royal Air Force planes from the palace balcony, before Charles hosts a tea party for some of the last living heroes of the conflict as well as their families.
Today, Buckingham Palace hopes the position of senior royals at the forefront of VE Day commemorations will refocus attention on their unifying role and positive contribution to public life.
It is understood that, for the surviving veterans’ sake, the ‘fervent hope’ is that nothing will detract or distract from ‘celebrating with full cheer and proud hearts that precious victory and those brave souls, on this most special and poignant of anniversaries’.
A palace aide said: ‘The King, Queen and other members of The Royal Family are much looking forward to all the week’s VE Day events, when they will unite with the rest of the nation and those across the Commonwealth and wider world in celebrating, commemorating and giving thanks to the wartime generation whose selfless devotion duty and service should stand as an enduring example to us all – and must never be forgotten.’