Prince Andrew will attend the Garter Day ceremony alongside his mother, Queen Elizabeth

The queen is sovereign of the order and appoints the Knights of the Garter without consulting ministers, so Andrew's appointment was considered to be private.

A royal spokesperson told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that Andrew's inclusion in the Court Circult would be "standard practice".

The prince denied any wrongdoing after being accused of sexually assaulting Virginia Giuffre when she was 17.sexually assaulted Giuffre when she was 17.

Andrew's sister-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall - who is married to his brother Prince Charles - will be among those invested into the country's most senior Order of Chivalry before a traditional procession to St. George's Chapel for a short service and she is the first Royal Companion to be created since Prince William in 2008.

She joins seven other senior royals in the order, including Charles, Andrew, William, Princess Anne and Prince Edward.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has been made a Knight Companion and Baroness Amos is the first person of colour to become a Lady Companion. The new appointments take the total number of Knights and Lady Companions to 20 out of a possible maximum of 24. There are no limit to the number of royal members.

Giuffre - who was formerly known as Virginia Roberts - accused convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in August 2019, and his one-time girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell of arranging and forcing her into having sex with Andrew in 2001.

Andrew strongly denied the allegation that he sexually abused Giuffre when she was under 18 years of age but weeks before a civil trial was due to start, he settled the case out of court with a reported $12 million payment to his accuser, including a donation to her sex trafficking charity.