US diplomats highlighted “inappropriate remarks” made by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, about a British law enforcement agency and a foreign country. Secret U.S. embassy cables are said to show the prince, who is a UK trade envoy, has shocked the Americans with his ‘rude behaviour abroad’.

The Guardian, one of a number of newspapers to have advance sight of the 250,000 classified documents released by the whistle-blower website Wikileaks, said they also included criticisms of David Cameron and of British military operations in
Afghanistan. The document, however, gave no details of the claims concerning the Duke or of the requests for intelligence about MPs.

The Duke has courted controversy in the past through outspoken political remarks. In 2008, he launched an unprecedented attack on President George W Bush’s White House administration for failing to listen more to the advice of the British Government over the Iraq war. On the eve of a 10-day mission to America in his role as British trade envoy, he told a newspaper that there were “occasions when people in the UK would wish that those in responsible positions in the US might listen and learn from our experiences”. The criticism was an extraordinary departure from normal protocol, which determines that members of the Royal Family refrain from public comment on sensitive international and political issues.

A Buckingham Palace source said: “We are awaiting further detail, as everyone else is.”

Articles: The Telegraph | Daily Mail

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