Relief as Prince Andrew quits trade envoy role

Prince Andrew appears to have found a face-saving way out of his position as UK trade envoy - a role that has attracted an increasing amount of criticism, culminating in revelations earlier this year of his continued friendship with a billionaire convicted of soliciting prostitution from minors.

Andrew, who has for 10 years promoted the business interests of Britain abroad as our special representative for trade and international investment, says he no longer needs the title of 'special representative' because he is now concentrating on promoting apprenticeships for young people.

Buckingham Palace will doubtless be hoping to draw a line under the various controversies that have dogged 'Airmiles Andy' since taking up his role.

Although he was never paid for his duties, Andrew clocked up hundreds of thousands of pounds in travel expenses, courtesy of the taxpayer. The five trips he made in 2010-11 alone came to £350,000.

Andrew was also a victim of the release by WikiLeaks of US embassy cables last year. In one, the US ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Tatiana Gfoeller described a brunch in 2008 at which she was taken aback by Prince Andrew's "almost neuralgic patriotism" before going on to describe his boorish conduct and an anti-American rant.

But far more damaging was the publication of photographs in March this year of Andrew with billionaire hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein in New York's Central Park. Critics were shocked that Andrew would allow himself to be seen with a man who had just been released after 13 months in jail for soliciting prostitution from minors.

Not surprisingly, Andrew's relinquishing of his high-profile role has been welcomed. Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay told the Times that it would protect the Royal Family's reputation. "The Duke has had great difficulty keeping his public and private interests apart," he said. ·