Prince Andrew will not be attending Queen’s birthday parade for Trooping the Colour in June

Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, is expected to be absent from Trooping the Colour this year. 

• The parade is due to take place on the Queen's birthday on 12 June 2021.
• The colourful parade will see the Royal Family walk through central London and gather on the balcony together for the annual iconic family photograph. 
• Prince Andrew will be absent from the parade this year, according to reporting from the Sunday Times. 
• In other royal news, Prince William's birthday this year will mark an important milestone this year.

Prince Andrew is usually by his family's side during the annual Trooping the Colour event, typically held in June each year. But this year, things will be very different, with the royal notably absent from the festivities. 

Prince Andrew holds the honorary military title of colonel of the Grenadier Guards, but this year in his place will be former Afghanistan soldier Major General Roland Walker, the Sunday Times reports. Major General Walker's vehicle was hit in January 2010 by an explosive device set by the Taliban in Helmand. He later received Distinguished Service Order honor from Her Majesty, recognizing his bravery. 

Prince Andrew stepped back from royal life in November 2019, after his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein put his place in the Royal Family under scrutiny. Prince Andrew is no longer classed as a working royal and has since been keeping a low profile, out of the public eye. The Duke of York – along with the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson – was noticeably absent from his daughter Princess Beatrice's wedding photographs. The former couple still maintain an amicable relationship and even share their family home, Royal Lodge in Windsor, despite being estranged. 

Presenter Piers Morgan recently suggested that Prince Andrew should give up his right to the throne after he "refused to cooperate" with the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

"I have a big problem with Prince Andrew being on that list of succession given his abject refusal to submit to FBI questioning over what he knew about the billionaire pedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein," he said during a televised debate, which was originally discussing Harry's place in the line of succession. 

"Why is Andrew left on that succession list when he's effectively been retired from royal duty?"

Last year, the Trooping the Colour had to be scaled back due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but it is thought this year the parade will go ahead as usual, likely with some social distancing measures in place. 

It is not yet clear whether Prince Andrew might appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch the parade, or in the iconic photograph of the family all together.