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Prince Andrew appeared sombre during his morning ride around Windsor after it was confirmed he will not join the rest of the royals for the Commonwealth Service later today.
The Duke of York, 65, donned a long brown coat, riding boots, and a helmet for a trot around the Berkshire estate on the same day that King Charles, Queen Camilla, and the rest of the Royal Family will mark Commonwealth Day in the UK.
Andrew seemed downcast as he was photographed in his car and on horseback on March 10 after it was confirmed he would not join senior royals, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, for the annual service at Westminster Abbey in London.
It comes in the wake of new allegations by a masseuse, who has claimed that she felt the way Prince Andrew behaved when she gave him a massage was ‘inappropriate’ and ‘an abuse of his privilege’.
The claims were made in an upcoming memoir by masseuse Monique Giannelloni, 60.
According to Monique, she met Epstein associate Ghislane Maxwell in 2000, and visited her Belgravia home twice to give her massages. The disgraced financier, who died in jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, died in prison.
Maxwell was taken with Monique and said she had a high profile contact she wanted her to work for, hyping her by saying that her next booking would be with ‘somebody more famous than God’.
This turned out to be Prince Andrew – with the session to take place within his suite of rooms at Buckingham Palace.
Prince Andrew appeared sombre during his morning ride around Windsor after it was confirmed he will not join the rest of the royals for the Commonwealth Service later today
The Duke of York, 65, donned a long brown coat, riding boots, and a helmet for a trot around the Berkshire estate on the same day that King Charles, Queen Camilla, and the rest of the Royal Family will mark Commonwealth Day in the UK
Monique revealed she was hired to give Andrew a massage at the palace despite ‘minimal vetting’.
But this was next to nothing compared to the shock that came next, with the therapist claiming that the prince, who remains 8th in line to the throne, undid his bathrobe and threw off his towel before climbing onto the massage table.
She felt his behaviour at their session was inappropriate: ‘He did not do anything or suggest anything untoward, but I was very uncomfortable and a bit shocked that he had acted like that.’
Monique added that she would have ‘expected more’ from a royal and that she was not ‘impressed’ by his behaviour.
While Prince Andrew has been shunned from the spotlight amid continued scrutiny over his ties to convicted pedophile Epstein, the rest of the Royal Family will gather later today to mark Commonwealth Day.
The Princess of Wales will return to Westminster Abbey to attend the service after she was forced to miss last year’s event due to her cancer treatment.
It comes as Charles, 76, who is head of the Commonwealth, emphasised the ‘vital role’ of the conglomeration of 56 member nations at a time of such global uncertainty.
He said: ‘Last October, leaders from across the Commonwealth came together in Samoa to reaffirm their ‘belief in the value of the Commonwealth as a trusted forum where diverse voices of our member states, the large and the small, the young and the old, come together as one family’.
Masseuse Monique Giannelloni, 60, claims that Prince Andrew booked her to massage him at Buckingham Palace
‘In these uncertain times, where it is all too easy to believe that our differences are problems instead of a source of strength and an opportunity for learning, the Commonwealth’s remarkable collection of nations and peoples come together in the spirit of support and, crucially, friendship.’
The Commonwealth is one of the world’s oldest political associations of states, with its roots in the British Empire.
However, the last four countries to join the organisation — Mozambique, Rwanda, Gabon and Togo — had no links whatsoever with British colonialism, emphasising its role as a voluntary organisation of independent and equal nations.
Its population is in excess of 2.7 billion, with some 60 per cent aged 29 or under, and a combined GDP of more than $13trillion (£10billion).
Last year, Prince William and Queen Camilla led the royals at the Commonwealth service in the absence of King Charles, who was also diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in 2024.
As the monarch continues his recovery, he is expected to call for unity during his annual Commonwealth Day address amid his ‘concerns’ over Canada’s trade war with US president Donald Trump.
Charles’s speech will be published in full on Monday, when the annual service celebrating Commonwealth Day is attended by senior members of the Royal Family and a congregation of invited guests.
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