The Queen's Platinum Jubilee: Prince Andrew tests positive for covid

Prince Andrew, Duke of York, has tested positive for Covid. Photo / Getty Images

The Duke of York has pulled out of his only public appearance at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations after testing positive for Covid.

Shamed Prince Andrew, who has seen the monarch, 96, in the last few days, will no longer attend his mother's thanksgiving service on Friday June 3, at St Paul's Cathedral.

The Queen's second son learned he had the virus after a routine test yesterday.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: "After undertaking a routine test the duke has tested positive for Covid and with regret will no longer be attending tomorrow's service."

It is understood the Duke has been doing regular testing and has not seen the Queen since he tested positive.

The Queen also tested positive for Covid in February and later admitted it left her exhausted.

Andrew had been expected to join the royal family at Friday's event despite no longer being a working royal and not being invited to the Trooping the Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade on June 2.

He also did not join other members of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the RAF flypast afterwards.

The Queen had decided only working royals would be on the balcony, leaving Andrew out of the line up.

He was stripped of his HRH title, royal patronages and affiliations after he was slammed for paying millions of pounds to settle a civil sexual assault brought against him by Jeffery Epstein sex slave Virginia Giuffre, 37.

She was trafficked by paedophile Epstein and accused the prince of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.

The duke denied the claims but quit public life following his shambolic interview in 2019 with the BBC's Newsnight over his friendship with Epstein, found dead in his New York jail cell aged 66 in 2019 from an apparent suicide.

All senior members of the Royal Family are due to attend the Queen's thanksgiving service, along with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Queen's grandchildren.

Andrew is the latest in a long line of royals to catch Covid, including the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of Cambridge and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.