Ollie Roberts, 21, made his first appearance as Queen Elizabeth II’s footman in June of this year, accompanying the Queen in her carriage at the Trooping the Colour annual ceremony in honour of the Queen’s official birthday.

Robert’s role as the Queen’s footman included walking her corgis and collecting her mail and the role also required him to live in Buckingham Palace and join the Queen as she travelled. He had also previously served in the Royal Air Force.

A source told The Sun that Roberts had been demoted to ordinary footman due to too much media attention. The inside source told the tabloid:

“They told him his profile was becoming too high and he wasn’t there to draw attention to himself.

“He thought about it for a couple of days then decided he should quit. He feels badly let down when he was proud to be gay in such a good job.”

Roberts had posted pictures to his Instagram of the grounds of Buckingham Palace when he was recruited, but he has since deleted his account. Neither Roberts or Buckingham Palace have commented on the story.

Many people celebrated the openly gay Welshman’s appointment to the role as it was seen to be a stride towards LGBT+ inclusion in Britain.

The Royal family have previously shown their support for the LGBT+ community, with Prince William appearing on the cover of Attitude Magazine in 2016 and speaking out against homophobia. The Prince said in an interview with the LGBT+ magazine, “No one should be bullied for their sexuality or any other reason and no one should have to put up with the kind of hate that these young people have endured in their lives.”

Although in 2015 Prince William and Kate Middleton refused to support a petition to pardon gay and bisexual men in Britain who had been punished for their sexuality.

The Queen has also briefly spoken about her support for LGBT+ people, saying in a speech at the 2017 Opening of Parliament, “My government will make further progress to tackle the gender pay gap and discrimination against people on the basis of their race, faith, gender, disability or sexual orientation.”