THE Queen’s first openly gay footman has stood down after being demoted for “courting publicity”.

Ollie Roberts, 21, was told he could no longer walk Her Majesty’s dogs, take in her mail or pass her a blanket for her knees.

4 Ollie Roberts proudly travels with the Queen to attend the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London Credit: PA:Empics Entertainment

His bump-down back to ordinary footman — meaning he could not be seen near the Queen in public — followed a string of articles about him by gay newspapers and websites.

A royal insider told The Sun: “Ollie was informed he had been overdoing the press stuff and they knew he was behind articles and gossip pieces.

“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.” Ollie refused to comment last night.

4 Before becoming a royal footman, 21-year-old Ollie served in the Royal Air Force

4 Ollie was only recently appointed to the plum role of footman to the Queen

But in 2016 Prince William told gay mag Attitude that young LGBQT people “are truly brave to speak out”.

And this year the Queen’s cousin Lord Ivar Mountbatten became the first royal to have a gay marriage.

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The Queen Mother had several gay servants, calling them her “knitting brigade”.

She once called to them: “When you two old queens have stopped gossiping, will one of you fetch this Queen a gin and tonic!”

4 The demotion would have meant Ollie could no longer walk the Queen’s dogs or pass her a blanket for her knees Credit: Alpha Press

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