Queen Elizabeth holds in-person audience day after Andrew settles sexual assault lawsuit
The Queen speaks during an audience at Windsor Castle on Wednesday (Steve Parsons/PA)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth has held an in-person audience the day after Prince Andrew settled his sexual assault lawsuit.
The 95-year-old monarch, who already had the official engagement set in her diary, met the incoming UK Defence Services Secretary Major General Eldon Millar, and his predecessor Rear Admiral James Macleod at Windsor Castle on Wednesday.
It is the British Queens first in-person appearance since her Covid scare six days ago, suggesting she may have escaped the virus despite coming into contact with Prince Charles, who tested positive two days later.
Her second son Andrew is facing a multi-million-pound payout after settling his sex case out of court, her eldest son Charles and Camilla caught Covid and now the Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into a cash for honours scandal involving Prince Charles’s charitable foundation.
Buckingham Palace has continued to refuse to confirm whether the Queen tested positive or negative, citing medical privacy, and saying last week only that she was not displaying any symptoms.
In her Oak Room sitting room at her Berkshire castle, Queen Elizabeth, in a patterned dress, greeted Maj Gen Millar on assuming his appointment, and his predecessor Rear Admiral Macleod on relinquishing his role.
She was standing during the audience and holding a walking stick.
On the table behind her were family photographs of her with her great-grandchildren, as well as an extra-large Fortnum & Mason Milk & Dark Chocolate Selection Box, and a box of Bendicks Mint Collection – an assortment of dark mint chocolates.
The UK Defence Services Secretary is a member of the Royal Household, and they are the official link between the British Queen and the Secretary of State for Defence and the Chiefs of Staff on all matters concerning the monarch’s relationship with the armed forces.
There will be much for Maj Gen Millar to discuss with the Queen, in the wake of Andrew losing his military titles.
Andrew agreed an undisclosed out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre on Tuesday, after she sued him claiming she was trafficked by paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew’s friend, to have sex with the royal when she was 17 and a minor under US law.
Prince Andrew, who is facing a reported £12 million payout, was stripped of his honorary military roles by his mother last month.
But his royal replacements in eight British regiments – including the post of Colonel of the Grenadier Guards – have yet to be announced.
As a former royal member of the armed forces who served in the Royal Navy, he was by convention promoted in line with his still-serving peers and made Vice Admiral by the Navy on his 55th birthday in 2015.
The UK Defence Services Secretary is on a three-year rotation.
The last time a new holder took on the appointment in 2019, the British Queen held an audience with the incoming secretary, Rear Admiral Macleod, and the outgoing Air Vice-Marshal Garry Tunnicliffe.
But six days later, Andrew, in his role as Vice Admiral, received both of the military men at Buckingham Palace, in an official engagement recorded in the Court Circular in April 2019.
There will be no such audience in the wake of the Queen’s meeting.
Prince Andrew, who no longer uses his HRH style, does not carry out public duties, having been cast adrift from the monarchy as a result of the lawsuit.
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