Queen Elizabeth II’s steadfast loyalty to Prince Andrew during the Jeffrey Epstein scandal was captured in one poignant remark.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew (Image: Getty)

The late Queen Elizabeth II’s unwavering loyalty to her son Andrew Mountbatten Windsor was laid bare in a revealing four-word remark made during the height of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

The disgraced royal, whose friendship with the convicted paedophile financier led to his downfall, was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages by his mother on January 13, 2022 amid the fallout from a civil sexual assault lawsuit filed in the United States by Virginia Giuffre.

Ms Giuffre accused the former Duke of York of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. Andrew later settled without admitting liability, and he has consistently denied the allegations.

According to royal biographer Robert Jobson, the monarch confided in a trusted aide that her feelings towards Andrew had not changed, despite his links to Epstein and mounting pressure from within the Palace to distance the Royal Family from the Duke of York.

Jobson’s new book The Windsor Legacy, which is being serialised by the Daily Mail, claims that Andrew’s socialising with Epstein and Maxwell “did nothing to dim the late Queen’s view of her second son.” She remained “fiercely loyal to Andrew” as the Epstein saga unfolded and “shielded him as Palace insiders continued to push for his exile.”

The Queen is said to have made her support clear in private, reportedly telling a confidant: “You have to remember, he is my son.”

Those simple yet powerful words reflected the deep maternal affection the monarch held for Andrew, even as his association with the convicted paedophile plunged the Royal Family into crisis.

Service Of Thanksgiving For The Duke Of Edinburgh (Image: Getty)

Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, the daughter of the late newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in the United States for sex trafficking. She and Epstein, who died in 2019 aged 66, were frequent guests at royal residences during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Photographs have surfaced of the pair relaxing at Balmoral, believed to have been taken in 1999 — a sign of how comfortably they once moved within royal circles.

At the time, Andrew thought little of inviting Epstein and Maxwell to royal properties. During his now-infamous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, he brushed off suggestions that their visits carried any special significance. When asked whether he had invited the pair to a party at Sandringham, he replied curtly: “It was a shooting weekend… a straightforward shooting weekend.”

The disgraced royal also claimed that he and Epstein were “not very good friends,” despite having stayed at each other’s homes several times. Andrew insisted that Epstein only ever visited Sandringham as Maxwell’s “plus one.”

On Thursday, October 30, the King took the dramatic decision to formally strip his brother of his Prince and Duke of York titles and HRH style, in a move that ended his public life.

Andrew will leave Royal Lodge as soon as practicable to an undisclosed property on the King’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, with the accommodation privately funded by the King, who will also make private financial provisions for his brother.