Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s sneaky tactic to manipulate Queen Elizabeth revealed

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor employed a "sneaky tactic" to manipulate the late Queen Elizabeth II and bypass official protocol, a royal expert has claimed. The former Duke of York, 66, has long been regarded as the late monarch’s "favourite" child - a status he reportedly used to his advantage by exploiting a specific window in the Queen's weekly schedule.

Speaking on HELLO!’s A Right Royal Podcast, Robert Hardman, the acclaimed author of Elizabeth II, revealed how Mr Mountbatten-Windsor would wait until the coast was clear of royal aides before making his move. "He did have a tactic which was, whenever he was told he couldn't do something or something was impossible, his favourite way of countermanding it would be to go round and have tea with Mummy on a Sunday afternoon, because there were no officials around," Mr Hardman said. According to the expert, these private Sunday sessions allowed him to circumvent the strict rules enforced by the Palace’s "men in grey suits".

"It was when officials were around that they would usually say, ‘Well, I'm sorry Sir, we can’t do this, we can’t do that,’" he explained.

The author suggested that during these intimate tea times, Mr Mountbatten-Windsor would present his requests directly to the Queen, knowing that without her advisors present to offer a counter-argument, she was far more likely to grant his wishes.

"So on a Sunday at tea, Andrew would say, 'Oh Mummy, you wouldn't believe what they've told me I can't do. It's ridiculous. I'm sure you don't mind me doing this. It's going to be a good idea. You must agree,'" Mr Hardman added.

"And she’d eventually say, 'Alright, yes.' And then on Monday morning he’d say, 'No, it’s quite alright. I've got the Queen's permission. It's going to happen. I'm going to do XYZ.'"

Robert also spoke about her late Majesty's relationship with her four children, whom she shared with Prince Philip. While the late Queen often worried that Princess Anne, now 75, "worked too hard", she was concerned for her second-oldest son for a different reason. Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, however, was often at risk of committing a royal faux pas, especially during his time in the Royal Navy, Mr Hardman explained.

"That was a different sort of worry. But with Andrew, she could see that the others were self-starters. They were confident that they would get on with life. But Andrew was headstrong, sheepish; he is often described as the start of her second family, because he came along 10 years after Anne, and he was a bouncy, lively child, and she adored him, obviously," he said.

"But by the time he was a young adult, it was quite clear that he was quite impressionable. He was a bit boorish. He could say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing. They tried to keep him on in the Royal Navy because the one thing he was good at was flying helicopters. But by 2001, the Navy said, 'Look, there's nothing we can do.'"

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor stepped down from royal duties in 2019 following his BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis and ongoing scrutiny over his links to the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. He kept his "prince" and "Duke of York" titles until October 2025, when King Charles stripped him of his remaining honours.