The Duke of York’s former staffers were not holding back (Picture: Reuters)

A former royal protection officer has described Prince Andrew as a ‘rude and nasty’ man.

Paul Page, who provided armed security for the Queen and her family at Buckingham Palace for six years, claimed Andrew often told servants to ‘f**ck off’.

Speaking on the Anything Goes podcast with James English, Page described his former boss as a ‘f***ing plum’ who ‘wasn’t well liked’.

He also claimed that the Duke of York, who withdrew from public life due to his links to serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, had a collection of teddy bears and would fly into a rage if they were not arranged correctly on his bed.

He said: ‘He wasn’t well liked if I’m honest. He was a f***ing plum – a rude, obnoxious, individual. Just a nasty, horrible little man.

‘If Prince Philip shoved a bar of soap in his gob the first time he told a servant to f**k off most of this probably wouldn’t have happened.

According to a former bodyguard, Andrew had ‘no regard for the people below him’ (Picture: WireImage)

‘He had the run of the place. We never had problems with any other members of the royal family.

‘The first time he told me to f*** off I thought, really? If the gate wasn’t open in time it was like – ‘f*ing imbeciles!’

What are you talking about? We’re here to protect you. Why are you gobbing off?’

He added: ‘On the weekends the royal apartments were empty and we’d have to go and do alarm checks in the bedrooms.

‘He had tonnes of teddy bears on his bed – 72. The inspector got a laminated picture of all these teddy bears out of the drawer.

‘He said if the maids don’t put them back exactly as they are in that picture, he flips.

‘It’s coercive behaviour – the maids were s*** scared of him. He was a spoiled fella. He had no regard for the people below him.

Former royal protection officer Paul Page was jailed for fraud in 2009 (Picture: PA)

‘He [was the favourite]. He got away with murder. We made complaints but where’s it gonna go? If you crossed him, you’re in trouble.

‘The royal family are a machine.’

In 2009, Page was jailed for six years following a £3 million property scam, which a judge called ‘breathtakingly dishonest, relentless and callous’.

His betting and property scam involved conning 57 victims over three years, including his own royal protection colleagues and their families and friends.

After his release, he returned to public life in 2022 via an appearance on an ITV documentary about the Prince’s relationships with convicted paedophiles Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffery Epstein.

Page was a former Metropolitan Police officer, who transferred to the Royalty Protection Command in 1998.

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A former royal bodyguard said the Prince ‘was not well liked’ among his staff.