The broadcaster revealed on Saturday it will offer ‘news coverage of the wedding across our services’, rather than a live link that replaces normal programming.

ITV has refused to say yet if it will televise the royal’s marriage to Italian property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Her sister Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank was broadcast by ITV in 2018, pulling in three million viewers.

Under normal circumstances, the BBC is offered the rights to a royal occasion for free.

However, some may link the public service broadcaster’s decision with Prince Andrew’s alleged role in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Royal author Phil Dampier told The Mirror: ‘Andrew is so toxic at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s going to be a private wedding with a couple of photos released afterwards.’

Buckingham Palace is yet to announce a date or venue for Beatrice’s wedding ceremony, but it is expected to be in late May or early June so it does not clash with Royal Ascot.

A spokesperson for the palace said details will be released ‘in due course’.

The Duke of York has denied allegations from Virginia Giuffre that she was forced into sex with him in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein.

An interview between the royal and the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in November was described as a ‘nuclear explosion level bad’.

During his grilling, he claimed he could not have slept with Mrs Giuffre because he had taken Beatrice to a party at Pizza Express the day his accuser said it happened.

He also dismissed claims that he was sweating profusely during the nightclub encounter because he had a ‘peculiar medical condition’ that meant he could not perspire, caused by an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War.

Ms Giuffre broke down into tears as she gave her version of events in a Panorama documentary in December.

She claimed Epstein’s girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell had told her she ‘had to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey’ during the prince’s stay in her London home.

Mrs Giuffre said: ‘That made me sick. I just didn’t expect it from royalty. I didn’t expect it from someone that people look up to and admire in the Royal Family.’

She continued: ‘There was a bath and it started there, and then it led into the bedroom. It didn’t last very long, the whole entire procedure. It was disgusting.

‘He wasn’t mean or anything but he got up and he said “thanks” and walked out. I sat there in bed, just horrified and ashamed, and felt dirty and I had to get up and go have a shower.

‘The next day, Ghislaine tells me I did a really good job. She pats me on the back and said, “you made him really happy”. It was a wicked time in my life.’

Father-of-two Andrew is said to have begged Ms Maxwell to clear his name by publicly defending him, but a New York Post report claimed she refused.

He joined the Royal Family for Christmas at the Queen’s Sandringham estate in December.