Queen Elizabeth “did not believe” her son Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor “had behaved improperly” despite the allegations levelled against him about his close relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a new book has claimed. Royal author Hugo Vickers writes in his new book Queen Elizabeth II that the late monarch disbelieved the allegations made against her second son.
The Queen’s view of her son was unchanged by his disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, which was met with riotous disbelief, anger and mockery from the public due to his bizarre excuses of being unable to sweat and claims he was at Pizza Express in Woking on the day he was alleged to have met with Ms Giuffre.
Mr Vickers writes in his book: “Despite his car-crash interview on Newsnight, and other apparent revelations, the Queen did not believe he had behaved improperly. It is fortunate that she did not live to witness the denouement.”
It is understood that the King recognised the crisis caused his mother “considerable distress”, but she would not accept the allegations. This is exemplified by her instance that Andrew acted as her escort at the March 2022 memorial service for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey.
The author adds: “Andrew’s problems caused the Queen considerable distress in the last years of her life. She was deeply concerned about his future. One idea, developed in the last year of her life, was to set up a foundation that Andrew could administer.”
In response to the outcry over Andrew’s interview, where he said he did not regret being friends with Epstein, the former monarch sacked her son from undertaking royal duties. This effectively saw him removed as a senior working royal.
In 2022, it was also agreed that he would cease to use his HRH style. Queen Elizabeth died later that year.
Since then, a series of fresh allegations concerning Andrew have been made, and new details of his relationship with the convicted sex offender came under scrutiny after the release of the Epstein files at the start of this year.
Andrew was stripped of his remaining royal titles at the end of last year and was forced to give up his 30-room mansion on the Windsor Estate.
Last month, he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He continues to deny wrongdoing.