There is intense pressure on the Duke of York to heavily reduce his diary following his recent interview on BBC Newsnight which was widely seen as calamitous.
In a poll of Royal Central readers, a significant majority of respondents said that the Duke of York should step back from royal duties following the broadcast on Saturday evening.
Of the 533 people polled, 83% said Prince Andrew should no longer carry out official engagements on behalf of The Queen.
However, according to the Daily Express, Prince Andrew has vowed to carry on working as a full-time royal, conducting engagements on behalf of the monarch.
A source close prince told the paper: “He will be undertaking official engagements in the very near future.”
Another source said that the Duke “stands by his decision” to sit down for the BBC interview, adding that the 59-year-old addressed the issues head-on and with “honesty and humility.”
Calls for Prince Andrew to step down from his royal duties have intensified, however, with a former BBC royal correspondent entering into the debate.
Peter Hunt, who was the BBC’s royal correspondent for 14 years, said that Charles as ‘Shadow King’ should find the courage to tell Prince Andrew to withdraw from public life.
He further claimed that The Queen herself would not do this, because she has a ‘blind spot’ for the Duke.
Taking to Twitter, Mr Hunt wrote: “Prince Andrew’s judgement has long been called into question – now it’s also the Queen who’s exposed after the Emily Maitlis interview. The Head of State allowed the palace to be the setting where a paedophile’s actions were described by the 8th in line to the throne as ‘unbecoming’.
“The Queen agreed to the Maitlis interview late Monday/Tuesday. BBC Newsnight were given the green light just as Prince Charles was flying out of the country on an official visit. If he’d been here, would the ‘shadow king’ have stopped it?
“The Maitlis interview is just the latest indication of a malaise afflicting the Royal Household that also manifest itself when the Queen was badly let down by her advisers over Boris Johnson’s failed prorogation of Parliament.
“Will the Queen be let down again and exposed again if we have a hung parliament?
“Will Prince Charles have the courage to do what he should do – and tell Prince Andrew to retire from public life on the basis his judgement has been called into question one too many times? Their mother won’t – Andrew is one of her blind spots.”
