The late queen’s comments are said to have been made when the footman offered to resign
18:18, 21 Feb 2026Updated 22:00, 21 Feb 2026
Queen Elizabeth II with Andrew Mountbatten Windsor in 2013(Image: PA)
Queen Elizabeth is reported to have said that her son Andrew Mountbatten Windsor ‘deserved being punched by a royal footman’, according to a new report.
On Thursday morning (February 19) Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office after allegations were made against him following the release of files related to paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
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The former duke spent 11 hours in police custody on his 66th birthday before being released under investigation following allegations he shared sensitive information with Epstein during his time as the UK’s trade envoy.
Detectives were expected to continue searching Andrew’s former home, Royal Lodge, in Windsor, Berkshire, on Saturday (February 21). Andrew has denied any wrongdoing over his links to the convicted sex offender, but has not directly responded to the latest allegations.
Following his younger brother’s arrest, King Charles said in a statement that ‘the law must take its course’ and the police have ‘our full and wholehearted support and co-operation’.
Despite being stripped of his title last year, the former Duke of York is still eighth in line to the throne and an Act of Parliament would be required to remove Andrew and prevent him from ever becoming king. For this to happen, all 14 realms of which King Charles is head of state to be in agreement.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is still in the line of succession(Image: Steve Parsons/PA Wire)
According to a new report that’s been published in The Times exploring Andrew’s ‘very long fall from grace’, the late Queen’s relationship with her ‘favourite son’ may not have been as smooth as previously believed.
The outlet claimed that when Andrew ‘was a young man his behaviour was so atrocious that a footman punched him in the face’. The Queen is said to have ‘refused his subsequent offer to resign on the grounds that her son had obviously deserved it’.
Additionally, the report noted that while the Queen ‘indulged him’, Andrew would often get on the wrong side of his mother. Growing up he is said to have frequently climbed the roof of Buckingham Palace to tinker with the TV aerial so ‘she couldn’t watch the racing’.
This isn’t the first time the story of the frontman allegedly punching Andrew has come to light. With royal expert Ingrid Seward detailing the incident in her book ‘My Husband and I’.
Seward said that on ‘one occasion when [Andrew’s] taunting so annoyed a young footman that he took a swipe at Andrew that deposited him on the floor and left him with a black eye’. ‘Fearing for his job’, the Frontman went to the Queen herself.
Once there she noted that ‘her son had obviously deserved it and the footman was on no account to be punished for Andrew’s bad behaviour’. The past few days have seen royal insiders debating whether or not Andrew really was the late Queen’s ‘favourite’.
Ailsa Anderson, who was the late Queen’s Press Secretary between 2001 and 2013 told the BBC: “The media do say that he was the favourite son, but in my 12 years working for the late Queen I never saw her display any favouritism amongst any of her children, so I can’t really say that’s true.”