Prince Andrew has been reprimanded after a former head of royal security demanded he keep his armed police guard.
He was reportedly angered after being informed by government ministers that his £3m-a-year armed police guards were to be removed from December in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
But King’s brother, 62, isn’t going down without a fight – and is arguing to keep Its round the clock security.
Now, Dai Davies, a former top police officer, has slammed Prince Andrew, saying the money used to protect the royal could be used to solve thousands of crimes in London.
Prince Andrew reprimanded after a former head of royal security demanded he keep his armed police guard
He brazenly said: ‘Why should we please this arrogant cocky named Andrew?’
Davis was appointed Operational Unit Commander of Royal Protection for HM The Queen and the Royal Family in 1995. He was responsible for Palace and Personal Protection throughout the UK and around the world.
As a working royal Prince Andrew was entitled to a taxpayer funded security detail made up of armed police officers who accompanied him on all trips outside Windsor, Berkshire.
But the decision in January to strip the prince of his official duties signaled there are no plans for him to return as a senior royal, and the latest move confirms Andrew has taken up the issue with Charles more than with the Queen. Faced with a more difficult stance.
This was followed by details of his friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, along with a devastating Newsnight interview in which he denied sexually assaulting Virginia Giuffre.
Prince Andrew (right) is understood to be furious about the decision and is set to complain to the Home Office
It follows his withdrawal from public life in 2019 as Virginia Giuffre’s allegations came to light, as well as details of his friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The annual cost of providing armed security for the prince out of the taxpayer’s wallet is estimated to be around £3 million.
But Andrew is understood to be complaining to the Met Police and the Home Office about the decision, following the move he would have to go without armed protection or fund it privately.
A source told The Sun on Sunday: ‘He is going to write to the Home Office and the Met Police to complain about losing his taxpayer-funded security.’
The move comes after the disgraced royal was stripped of all official duties by his late mother Queen Elizabeth II in January.
Prince Andrew stepped down from public life in 2019 over his friendship with billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
He was stripped of his honorary military roles, including colonel of the Grenadier Guards, this January and forced to publicly drop his HRH style.
Epstein, who ensnared hundreds of vulnerable young girls in his sex trafficking ring over a 30-year period with the aid of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, was a close friend of the Duke and even lived in his New York home.
During his devastating Newsnight interview, Andrew told how he was introduced to Epstein in 1999 by the pedophile’s ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Duke said he would see Epstein three times a year.
Prince Andrew will now lose his armed police guard, costing taxpayers £3 million a year
He admitted that he hosted her and Maxwell for a ‘straight shooting weekend’ at Sandringham in December 2000, and that he stayed at Epstein’s mansion in New York in 2010 when he visited to break up with the pedophile.
Epstein took his own life in a New York prison in 2019, days before he could stand trial for sex trafficking.
Maxwell was jailed for 20 years in June for procuring teenage girls for Epstein to abuse.
Andrew, 62, this year lost his bid in the US to quash a civil lawsuit brought by Epstein’s former ‘sex slave’ Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was forced to have sex with the duke .
The duke vehemently denied his claims, but at the time, Buckingham Palace said the decision to strip Andrew of his title was made by the late queen.
It is believed to have been strongly advocated by both the then Prince of Wales Charles and Prince William.
Andrew (left) is believed to have been ‘dressed down’ by his older brother Charles (right) just days before their mother’s death
The Duke settled the civil case in February for a reported £12 million without admitting liability, which he believed would allow him to return to royal duties.
But the decision to remove his police protection is the latest sign that King Charles is about to take a tougher stand against Andrew’s demands.
It has been widely reported that the disgraced royal has been lobbying her late mother for a return to royal life, and earlier this month it was revealed that she had been ‘dressed up’ by Charles days before her mother’s death. Had to go
A source told the Daily Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column that Charles had been told by the Queen’s senior staff that there was ‘constant lobbying’ by Andrew to reinstate the ailing monarch as a ‘functioning royal’.
At the meeting at his Birkhall estate in Scotland, the future king made it clear to Andrew that he would never return to royal duties.
Charles also told his brother that if he was ever restored to his position it would be difficult to find a charity that would want him as a patron.
A senior Labor MP said last night: ‘He doesn’t understand that he is in disgrace and people don’t want to listen to him anymore – especially with his begging bowl on.
‘I know he has a title, but that doesn’t mean he deserves taxpayer-funded security. I know families who don’t know if they will be able to afford their children’s Christmas presents this year.
A source previously told the Daily Mail: ‘Unpleasant as it may sound, he always hoped to regain his position as a senior royal.
‘At the meeting, Charles told her she could go and have a good life, a good life, but her public life as a royal was over. He was told, ‘You have to accept it.’
Representatives for Prince Andrew declined to comment.
