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Fact check: did Charles make Andrew a Counsellor of State?

Photo by Martin Meissner-WPA Pool/Getty Images

What better way to mark the death of the monarch than via some good old royal disinformation? Twitter users have been in a strop today about Prince Andrew, the black sheep of the Windsor mob. Apparently, his brother, King Charles, has taken it up on himself to appoint the Duke of York as a ‘Counsellor of State’, to whom the monarch can delegate royal functions.

That certainly was the view of the the Twitter handlers at ‘PoliticsJOE’when they claimed that Prince Andrew will ‘carry out Royal duties’ as a Counsellor of State; implying that he wasn’t one already, and that this appointment had been signed off by the new King. Naturally, the usual rent-a-mob seized on this claim with gusto, with Guardian columnist Owen Jones leading the charge. Counsellors of state may carry out ‘such of the royal functions as may be specified in the Letters Patent’.

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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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