The Queen offered a brutal one word response when Prince Andrew told her of his Jeffrey Epstein friendship, according to a new biography.
Gyles Brandreth, a friend of Prince Philip, made the claims about Her Majesty's words to her son in an upcoming biography called Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait.
Brandreth writes the Queen listened carefully to the Duke of York as he recounted his friendship to Epstein before she simply replied with the word, "intriguing".
He goes on to say the Queen always "remained discreet and never said more than absolutely necessary".
However, he also claims the Queen had no "hesitation" in stripping Andrew of his royal roles when he became embroiled further in the scandal, saying, "The Queen took a firm grip of things".
A court senior reportedly told Brandreth: "There was only a few days between flash and bang. Action was called for and she took it."
It comes after reports King Charles summoned Prince Andrew to a tense meeting after hearing of his "persistent lobbying" of the Queen for a return to royal life, according to a source.
It was previously reported that Andrew was 'blindsided' by his older brother who told him he must accept he will never return to royal duties.
The disgraced Duke of York is said to have "always believed there was a way back" to his former role and thought he could "still be of value" to the Royal Family despite his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Charles and Andrew reportedly held an early-morning meeting at the King's Birkhall estate in Scotland just days before the Queen’s death with the Duke of York's absence from future royal service confirmed.
And according to the Daily Mail's Ephraim Hardcastle column, Charles called the meeting after hearing of his brother's pleas to the Queen.
It says: "A source whispers that Charles had been tipped off by the Queen's senior staff that Andrew's persistent lobbying of the ailing monarch to restore him as a 'working royal' was taking its toll.
"Andrew knew that if his mother didn't rehabilitate him then all hope was gone."
