FORMER DOWNING Street adviser Rohan Silva has claimed Prince Andrew used the N-word during a meeting at Buckingham Palace.

Mr Silva, who is of Sri Lankan descent, alleges the incident took place in 2012 during a discussion about trade policy.

Mr Silva, said he asked the Duke of York whether the government department responsible for trade  “could be doing a better job”. He said Prince Andrew responded: “Well, If you’ll pardon the expression, that really is the n***** in the woodpile.” 

According to the Evening Standard, palace sources have denied that Andrew ever used the phrase, insisting he would never use such language.

Mr Silva, who worked as David Cameron’s key aide on the tech economy and now as a coworking space entrepreneur and Standard columnist, said he clearly recalls “how I walked blinking into the sunshine outside Buckingham Palace, reeling at the prince’s use of language” after the meeting attended by himself, Andrew and a palace aide.

He added: “For a long time afterwards I kicked myself for not confronting the prince on his choice of words — and it’s something I still regret today. After all, he clearly wasn’t taken to task very often by the people around him, which meant offensive language went unchallenged.” 

Mr Silva said that this was the second time that the prince had used unacceptable language in his presence, recalling a conversation which allegedly took place the previous year.

The entrepreneur claims he met with Andrew at Buckingham Palace in 2011, where they had been discussing European Union reform. Mr Silva claimed Andrew said: “What you have got to remember is that you’ll never get anywhere by playing the white man.”

The shocking revelation comes after Prince Andrew’s controversial BBC Newsnight interview about his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epistein.