His prestigious title of the UK's global trade ambassador – awarded in 2001 - was supposed to provide the-then Prince Andrew with a new role in life following the end of his career in the Royal Navy.

But as well as earning him the nickname Airmiles Andy because of his penchant for long-distance luxury air travel, it was to mark a decade dogged by controversy, including a string of damaging revelations uncovered by the Daily Mail.

The former duke was repeatedly accused of 'cashing in' on connections with oil-rich trading partners, of developing questionable friendships with disreputable figures and of lavishing millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on private jets and helicopters.

At the same time he faced intense scrutiny over how he could afford his high-flying lifestyle on a Navy pension estimated at £20,000 a year and annual allowance from the Queen of around £250,000.

Apart from his collection of expensive cars - including a £220,000 Bentley and £80,000 Range Rover – there was the multi-million pound refurbishment of Royal Lodge plus a £17million ski chalet in the Swiss resort of Verbier.

Andrew also faced claims he cashed in on connections made through his work, not least having sold Sunningdale Park - his former marital home in Berkshire - for £15million, £3million over the asking price, to the then Kazakhstan president's son-in-law.

Among the unsavoury characters with whom he struck up relationships along the way were Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the recently-assassinated son of Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

He finally stepped down from the role in July 2011 following outrage over the now-notorious photographs of him walking through Central Park with Jeffrey Epstein, just weeks after the paedophile financier had been released from jail for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

However it is the vast slew of emails released as part of the Epstein files which have sparked mounting calls for the police and the Government to investigate the former Duke of York.

They show that in February 2010, Andrew passed on a confidential Treasury briefing on the financial crisis then gripping Iceland to a banker friend, suggesting he reads it 'before you make your move'.

Then in July of that year he forwarded email exchange with an investment banker discussing sensitive information about taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland to his adviser David Stern, who in turn sends them on to Epstein.

The following month Mr Stern, a London-based German businessman who was an adviser to both Andrew and Epstein, asked to 'help' plan the Duke's official visit to China, scheduled for September.

Andrew spent 10 days on the official trip to China - although emails seen by the Mail on Sunday reveal he insisted that the first four days of his visit should be 'private'.

During the trip, Mr Stern emailed Epstein what appears to be discreetly taken photographs of Andrew meeting multiple young women.

After his return, Mr Stern emailed Epstein to tell him he was planning potential business deals thanks to Andrew's trip.

Also that autumn, Andrew tried to facilitate a meeting with Colonel Gaddafi for Epstein, at Epstein's request, emails uncovered by Channel 4 News suggest – although the encounter apparently did not ultimately happen.

And in November 2010, Andrew lobbied for Epstein during an official visit to the United Arab Emirates with the late Queen – while staying at a £1million golfing and holiday villa as a gift the oil-rich Gulf nation's royal rulers.

Later that month, the email records show how Andrew forwarded Epstein official reports of his official visits to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam - including confidential details of investment opportunities.

Then in December 2010 he sent Epstein a 'confidential' briefing on 'high value commercial opportunities' in Afghanistan prepared for him by UK officials.

It was the same month that Andrew was pictured walking in New York with Epstein, who had just been released from an 18-month sentence for soliciting sex from a child.

Andrew later claimed that he went to meet Epstein to tell him he was cutting contact with him.

But another email from February 2011 shows Andrew suggesting to Epstein that he might invest in a private equity firm which the-then prince visited a week before.

Questions over Andrew's trade envoy role – which was unpaid, but for which he was entitled to claim expenses – and whether taxpayers were getting value for money had swirled around him for years.

As far back as 2008, in an embarrassing email later revealed as part of the Wikileaks saga, Andrew was accused of criticising the Serious Fraud Office probe of an arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia.

In March 2011 a retired ambassador complained that Andrew's 'activities' were 'doing such serious damage to the Royal Family itself and to Britain's political, diplomatic and commercial interests that an entirely new role should be found for him as soon as possible'.

Finally in July of that year, he stepped down from his role as UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment – saying he would instead serve as a 'senior working royal' with a particular interest in British business.

Critics claimed at the time that it was a ploy designed to enable him to continue clocking up miles travelling abroad at taxpayers' expense.

Just weeks later, eyebrows were raised when it emerged he had spent up to £150,000 of taxpayers' money on chartering a private jet to fly to Saudi Arabia and back for a three-day trip to promote British business.

Then in 2016 he earned commission of £3.83million after acting as a fixer for Greek and Swiss businesses which wanted to build water and sewage networks in Kazakhstan.

It was later revealed that Andrew had made a secret deal to fly around the world on a £40million luxury jet owned by a controversial financier whose private bank he quietly promoted while working as Britain's overseas trade envoy.

Andrew fixed it so that property tycoon David Rowland's sumptuous 14-seat plane was used for some of his overseas Royal engagements, the Mail on Sunday revealed.

He continued to fly on the executive jet as late as May 2019 – just six months before his infamous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis.

In 2021 the Daily Mail revealed how Mr Rowland had paid off a £1.5million loan that his own Luxembourg-based bank had granted Andrew partly cover his 'living expenses' – at the time, the bank 'categorically denied' any 'wrongdoing'.

Since stepping down as trade envoy, ministers have failed to release significant information about his decade in the role, according to biographer Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled, in spite of numerous Freedom of Information requests.

Some documents are not due to be released by the Cabinet Office until 2065.

However pressure for a full inquiry is now mounting by the day, with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp telling the Mail on Sunday: 'It's high time spineless Keir Starmer actually does something and investigates the full extent of the damage he's done to Britain's security.'