royal visit to Libya is being reconsidered after the welcome given to the Lockerbie bomber on his return to the country, the BBC understands.
The Foreign Office is reviewing plans for Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, to meet senior figures and promote trade.
The visit - planned for early September - now seems unlikely to go ahead.
It also emerged that the prime minister had written to Colonel Gaddafi asking that Libya “act with sensitivity” when Megrahi returned home.
Downing Street said Gordon Brown had sent the letter on Thursday, ahead of the bomber’s release from prison.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband has described the celebratory welcome in Libya for Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi as “deeply distressing”.
BBC Diplomatic Correspondent James Robbins said he understood the royal visit - which had not yet been made public - was now unlikely to proceed.
“It would be the Duke of York’s third visit to Libya,” he said.
“Last year he met Colonel Gaddafi and previously he has met a series of senior Libyan ministers in his role as Britain’s special representative for trade and investment.
Britain has secured huge contracts with Libya, particularly in the energy sector, in recent years as the country has returned from deep international isolation.”
The Duke’s spokesman said a trip to Libya in early September had been “in its planning stages”.
He added: “We will continue to take advice from the Foreign Office as we do with all overseas royal visits.”
The foreign secretary has said he deplored the welcome Megrahi received in Tripoli on Thursday.
But Mr Miliband refused to comment on whether he believed the Scottish Government was right to free him.
Crowds in Tripoli, some waving Saltires, greeted Megrahi after he was freed on compassionate grounds.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the reception was “inappropriate”.
The welcome Megrahi received on his return to Libya also prompted an angry reaction from families of those killed in the 1988 bombing, which brought down Pan Am flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie, in southern Scotland.
