No mandatory flying of the Union Flag this Tuesday in honour of Prince William ‘is all for the sake of prickly Andrew’

Tomorrow is the first June 21 in recent memory when the flag will not be flown from all UK government facilities for the birthday of the prince.

The UK government says its buildings are “encouraged to fly the Union Flag all year round”, but there are some days on which it must fly – known as designated days.

On February 11 this year a new list was published, containing just nine dates.

The raft of designated days that were culled included the birthdays of Prince William, Prince Edward, and Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall.

The Sun newspaper today reported two sources as confirming what many had suspected all along – that this wider cull of royal birthday designated days was arranged to spare the blushes of scandal-hit Prince Andrew.

The paper quoted “insiders” as saying it was “so as not to upset Andrew, who is decidedly prickly on these sorts of matters”, and “another source” as saying: “It is widely considered to have happened to avoid embarrassment for Andrew.”

And The Mail Online quoted “a friend” of Prince William saying “he just wishes [Andrew] would vanish from public view”.

The duke has been increasingly marginalised due to his friendship with now-dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Here is the full list of current designated days (with ones that have been retained from last year listed here in bold):

January 9: Birthday of the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate)

January 20: Birthday of the Countess of Wessex (Sophie, wife of Prince Edward)

February 6: Her Majesty’s Accession

February 19: Birthday of the Duke of York

March 1: St David’s Day (in Wales)

March 8: Commonwealth Day (second Monday in March)

March 10: Birthday of the Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward)

March 17: St Patrick’s Day (in Northern Ireland)

April 21: Actual birthday of Her Majesty the Queen

April 23: St George’s Day (in England)

June 2: Coronation Day / Queen’s official birthday (the latter fell on June 12 last year)

June 10: Birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh

June 21: Birthday of the Duke of Cambridge (William)

July 17: Birthday of the Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla)

August 15: Birthday of the Princess Royal (Anne)

November 14: Birthday of the Prince of Wales, and this year also Remembrance Day (second Sunday in November)

November 20: Her Majesty’s Wedding Day

November 30: St Andrew’s Day (in Scotland)

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