Queen Elizabeth gave Andrew ‘full help’ after Virginia Giuffre image emerged
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was widely believed to be the Queen’s favourite son, now it has emerged she gave him her “full support” despite photos emerging of him with Epstein after his convction
Andrew had the full support of his mother even after this photo emerged(Image: US District Court – Southern Dis)
Queen Elizabeth II gave Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor her “full support” after the photo of him with his arm around his accuser Virginia Giuffre emerged. But late Majesty is said to have considered her son’s contact with Jeffrey Epstein to be “unwise”.
An email in the latest batch of Epstein files released by the US government reveals his “man in the palace” David Stern shared the update in March 2011, three months after Andrew claimed to have flown to New York to end his friendship with the paedo financier.
Referring to Andrew as “PA”, Stern wrote to Epstein: “PA has full support of his mum, only dealing with you was ‘unwise’.”
The picture, taken in the London home of Epstein’s sex trafficking accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, first emerged in February 2011. Around the same time, a photo was published of Andrew walking around New York’s Central Park with Epstein after his child sex conviction.
A day after the photo emerged of Andrew with Virginia, the disgraced ex-Royal emailed Epstein saying “we are in this together”.
The late Queen’s feelings about her son’s actions had never previously been made public.
She did authorise Andrew to step down as a working member of the Royal Family in 2019, shortly after his car crash Newsnight interview. But she allowed him to remain the Duke of York and to keep his prince title.
It was her successor on the throne King Charles who stripped him of his titles in October 2025 after Virginia’s posthumous memoirs were published.
Queen Elizabeth is thought to have privately funded Andrew’s £12 million payout to Virigina to settle a civil lawsuit in which she alleged she was brought to the UK aged 17 to have sex with the former prince.
And even when his reputation was in tatters, the late Queen significantly chose Andrew to walk with her when she attended a remembrance service at Westminster Abbey for her husband Prince Philip in 2022 in a clear sign of support from mother to son.
Stern worked in the former Duke of York’s office and was a director of Andrew’s now-closed Pitch@Palace scheme for entrepreneurs.
A photograph of Stern is among the documents released by the US Department of Justice. He is pictured smiling with Andrew and Sarah Ferguson in January 2014, according to the date next to the photo. Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
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