Queen ‘staged’ photos with Andrew to show support during abuse scandal – despite opposition from other royals, book says

THE Queen staged photographs with Prince Andrew to show her support during his abuse scandal, a book has claimed.

Her late Majesty is said to have had "no hesitation" in stripping him of his Royal duties amid sex abuse allegations against him.

But the next day she ensured photographers caught her riding horses with him in Windsor as a show of her personal support.

She is also said to have been glad the Duke of York, long said to be her favourite son, was by her side during Prince Philip's memorial service earlier this year.

Although this faced opposition from other members of the Royal Family, who feared the image of them side-by-side would dominate coverage of the event.

The claims have been made by biographer Gyles Brandreth in his upcoming book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, serialised in the .

He wrote: "Prince Andrew stepped down from public life in 2019 over his friendship with the ‘billionaire paedophile’ ­Jeffrey  Epstein.

"He was stripped of his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and obliged to give up his HRH style in public.

"But his mother stood by him. She loved her boy. She retained her ‘confidence’ in him. 

"That said, there had been a cloud hanging over his reputation, and the Queen was a realist. She essentially fired her own son.

"A senior courtier said to me, ‘There was a lot of nonsense talked about no one being at the helm, but the Queen took a firm grip of things.

"To use the military jargon, there was only a few days between flash and bang. Action was called for and the Queen took it.’

"The day after firing Andrew, however, she showed us how much she loved him by taking him riding with her through Windsor Great Park in the rain and ensuring that there were photographers on hand to capture the shot.

";She was also glad to have him at her side as she travelled to her husband’s memorial service."

The bombshell new book also revealed the Queen's one-word response when Prince Andrew gave his account of his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

And it highlights Queen Elizabeth's incredible stoicism during her final months.

Her late Majesty is said to have told a lady-in-waiting that she was determined to keep busy as it helped her cope with Prince Philip's death.

And she is said to have not wanted to give way to self-pity, saying: "My husband would certainly not have approved."

But she pushed herself so hard that by last autumn she suffered a sudden low energy and was advised by doctors to rest, Gyles Brandreth revealed.

It has also been claimed that she fought a painful cancer in her final year.