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Every family has to think, from time to time, about funerals. It may not be welcome, but it is usually wise.

It is certainly not the taboo it used to be – some TV stations nowadays are full of advertisements for funeral plans.

For the Royal Family, the problem is rather bigger. The death of any senior royal raises delicate and intricate questions of protocol and precedence.

Where will the service be held? Where will the interment be?

We must all die, even if the current Royal Family has developed a reputation for longevity.

The well-oiled machine of the British monarchy does not wish to be unprepared for any eventuality, and quite right too.

So inevitably the awkward question of the funeral of the former Duke of York, now Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, has come up.

And currently there are plans for him to have a funeral thought to be similar to that accorded to the late Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret.

Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Queen Elizabeth II attend the funeral of Patricia Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma in 2017

Let us not be vindictive here, but the former Prince, by his behaviour and attitude in the Epstein affair, has surely forfeited any entitlement to such ceremonies.

Plainly, in common decency, he should be buried with his forebears, and his unquestioned bravery in the Falklands will not be forgotten by the Navy.

But the British public will be dismayed if his obsequies take place in royal surroundings or with the trappings of monarchy.

He is now a private citizen and his funeral should be private too.