FOR years now the Duchess of York has told anyone who will listen that Prince Andrew and she are the bestest of friends.

If that’s correct then I think we are starting to see the reason why; they are two halves of the same rotten apple.

If it isn’t Andy copping for a job for which he isn’t qualified because of his princely status, larging it with dodgy foreigners in the name of business, it’s Fergie trading on her royal connections, larging it with dodgy etc etc. You get the picture.

And what an increasingly shameful picture it is.

In the past I’ve stuck up for Fergie because I always thought she’d dipped out unfairly when it came to the royal divorce and she must have suffered abominably when her selfish mother walked out when she was just a kid.

But the sympathy well has dried up, I’m afraid. Her teary-eyed explanations as to how she came to accept £15,000 from a convicted paedophile to pay off a disgruntled aide to whom she owed money just don’t wash.

Especially when you know she has also holidayed at Jeffrey Epstein’s foreign hideaway and must have enjoyed his hospitality in much the same way as her husband did.

In yet another embarrassing mea culpa, Her Fergieness intoned: “I have made another huge error in my life in order to get debt-free.”

Yes but who got her into that debt in the first place? How did she end up so broke she saw nothing wrong with accepting money from a man convicted of sex crimes, nothing wrong with try to obtain cash for access to her former husband?

And who was it exactly who spent the past 15 years jetting round the world, lavishing money on beauty treatments, clothes and a lifestyle that was way beyond her means?

What is so infuriating about Fergie is that she genuinely doesn’t seem to understand how ridiculous she looks, how greedy and out-of-touch with ordinary people.

If she’s that broke, why hasn’t she stopped spending? She’s not required to do royal duties so why hasn’t she got a paid job? Signed up to Martin’s Money?

Why hasn’t she got on to Comparethemarket, uSwitch, Myvouchercodes and all the rest of it to cut her bills and pay her way?

The worst thing that ever happened to her was becoming a Duchess because it made her think the normal rules didn’t apply. Well, they do. Just as the rules of decency and discretion and all the rest of it apply to her ghastly ex.

If Prince Andrew doesn’t know that consorting with convicted sex offenders isn’t a good thing then he really shouldn’t be allowed out.

If he doesn’t realise that flogging his vulgar Southyork home to a foreign billionaire from a land he visits on official business, for £3 million more than the guide price looks strange, he shouldn’t be allowed to represent this country.

It’s said the Queen has asked him if there are any more worrying revelations that could be made public.

With Andy and Fergie the way they both are, I should think it’s a given.