The House of Windsor is in a spin. Denials and complaints are in the air. And at the centre of it all is the Duke of Edinburgh and the question of whether he does or does not approve of Queen Elizabeth's decision to award Britain's highest order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter, to Emperor Akihito of Japan.
The Times yesterday ran a front-page story claiming that the plan to present the emperor with the honour during his state visit to Britain later this month had caused "tension" in the royal household, particularly with the Duke, who is patron of the Burma Star Association, a league of second World War veterans.
In a rare public statement later yesterday, Buckingham Palace issued a terse denial of several press reports indicating that Prince Philip was at odds with Queen Elizabeth over the award.
Insisting that Prince Philip was "well aware of the painful memories" from the war and the feelings expressed by veterans who remain deeply unhappy at the prospect of Emperor Akihito receiving the Garter, Buckingham Palace denied he had expressed any view "privately or publicly" about the award.
Despite the prince's denial, and the threat that he might seek redress from the Press Complaints Commission, many second World War veterans are still bitter about the treatment meted out to them by Japanese soldiers during the war. Members of the Japanese Labour Camps Survivors' Association are said to be planning to line the Mall during the emperor's visit, turning their backs and whistling Colonel Bogey in protest as he passes with the Queen.
At the end of the war, when Prince Philip was serving as a First Lieutenant in the British navy, he saw firsthand the sufferings of prisoners of war when he helped to bring them home on board his ship.
He also chose the 50th anniversary of V.J. Day to honour the war dead when he marched with 5,000 members of the Burma Star Association down the Mall in a deeply moving ceremony. Perhaps, then, it is easy to see why he would have difficulty with such an occasion and why a physical symbol of reconciliation is too much to ask of the veterans' associations.
The root of the problem for Prince Philip lies in his long association with the veterans of the second World War. He has heard the protests of the former Far East servicemen about the presentation of the Garter to Emperor Akihito and it seems that he is caught between duty and conscience.
Many commentators believe that national apologies for atrocities or mistakes made in the past, which have become much in vogue in recent years, are not worth very much.
However, in Britain there is a significant number of war veterans holding out for an apology from the Japanese. Many believe it is this issue, rather than the Garter and the fact that Queen Elizabeth will later receive Japan's highest honour, the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, which is at the root of their anger.
Speaking outside the Japanese embassy this week, Stephanie Cole, the actress from the BBC's Japanese prison camp series, Tenko, spoke for some of the veterans: "We have heard all the stories about what they had to put up with and yet they have never received an apology. They need an apology and compensation in order to get on with their lives."
Even Mr Tony Blair's government, which is usually sure-footed around the British royals, has come in for criticism over the Garter. According to the anonymous Whitehall source quoted by the Times: "[Philip] feels the government should have found other ways to honour the emperor. But he knows his duty and he will do it. To say he is less than happy is an understatement."
Mr Arthur Titherington, the chairman of the Japanese Labour Camps Survivors' Association, understands the problem Prince Philip faces. "Many servicemen have written to the Duke because they know he is on our side. He, more than anybody else, understands how we feel. I have nothing against Akihito, who was aged 14 at the time of the war. But it is the signal this honour has sent out," he said this week.
This is not the first time that a Japanese emperor has been given this award, and when Emperor Akihito visits London later this month he will join his late father, Emperor Hirohito, as an Extra Knight of the Garter. However, even the decision to bestow the Garter on Emperor Hirohito did not pass without controversy. He was given the award in 1929, it was rescinded in 1942 when Japan joined the war, and it was later returned when he visited London in 1971.