A BUCKINGHAM Palace footman who played a starring role in announcing the birth of Prince George has left his job after his visa expired.
Badar Azim, 25, who grew up in a Calcutta slum and went on to graduate in hospitality management from Napier University in Edinburgh, was photographed helping the Queen's press secretary Ailsa Anderson display the official birth notice and the images appeared in publications across the globe.
But the palace footman, who had been working in the Queen's royal household since last year, has left his post after his visa expired.
It had been reported that he was trying to renew the visa, but it is now thought he has returned home to India after failing in his application.
Mr Azim was able to graduate from the university in June 2011 thanks to financial help from St Mary's Orphanage and Day school in Calcutta, where he studied as a boy.
The footman's father, Mohammed Rahim, a 52-year-old welder, and his 41-year-old mother Mumtaz Begum, only discovered their son's part in the birth announcement when they saw his picture in Indian newspapers.
Buckingham Palace and the Home Office both said they did not comment on individual cases.
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