Prince Andrew has been "protected" by the Royal Family in the wake of the fallout from his Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019, an expert has said.

Almost five years ago the Duke of York was left disgraced following his conversation with the prominent journalist about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has repeatedly and vehemently denied all allegations levelled against him.

He was stripped of his peerages and military titles by the late Queen Elizabeth and is no longer a working member of the Royal Family, although he remains living at Royal Lodge.

However Ed Coram-James, PR expert and chief executive of Go Up, has criticised the way the Firm have handled Andrew's situation as poor crisis management, even accusing them of not going far enough to exile him.

He told Express.co.uk: "They (the Royal Family) have kept him close enough to make it clear that he is still very much part of the family, and thus to an extent protected."

Mr Coram-James explained: "The Royal Family’s 'middle-way' handling of the Prince Andrew saga hasn’t helped. It has made things worse for them.

"It has been uncharacteristically callous for a family that time and again has proven to be so adroit at crisis management. By middle way, I mean that they have not taken a position.

"They have distanced themselves from him to a certain extent, in the hopes that, by creating distance, they themselves are shaded from the worst parts of public scrutiny concerning the allegations."

The PR guru claimed that the royal strategy for handling the Duke "has not worked" as it has instead given them "the worst of both worlds" by enabling them to be affected by the bad press surrounding him, while not allowing him to help out with royal duties.

He commented: "Andrew remains within the fold enough that the Royal Family has been affected by the negativity that comes with the York brand.

"But, he is not kept close enough that he is able to be a useful working royal, at a time when working royals are in desperately short supply."