Queen Elizabeth Made 'Mistake' Funding Ex-Prince Andrew's £12m Settlement, Royal Author Claims

The late Queen Elizabeth II faces renewed criticism over her decision to personally bankroll Prince Andrew's multi-million-pound legal settlement.

According to veteran royal biographer Robert Hardman, the monarch's choice to intervene in her son's civil case with Virginia Roberts Giuffre stands as the 'one big mistake' of a seventy-year reign otherwise defined by duty.

In his forthcoming book, Elizabeth II: In Private, In Public, Hardman argues that this intervention was a strategic error that has outlived the Queen and left a stain on the monarchy's reputation.

Despite stripping Andrew of his public roles following the disastrous Newsnight interview, the Queen's maternal loyalty allegedly clouded her judgment regarding the Prince Andrew settlement. This revelation comes as the Royal Family crisis deepens in 2026, following the shock arrest of Andrew on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Queen Elizabeth II's 'One Big Mistake' Over Ex‑Prince Andrew

Hardman, whose forthcoming book revisits the late monarch's 70‑year reign, told People that her intervention in Andrew's legal battle stands apart from the rest of her record.

He said Elizabeth's choice to help pay the Giuffre settlement 'will go down as a mistake ... and one that has outlasted her.'

Sources who spoke to Hardman insist the decision did not come easily. Palace insiders described the late Queen as conflicted, torn between maternal loyalty to a son long thought to be her favourite and the need to protect the Crown from the fallout of his association with Epstein.

'The Queen effectively sacked him and forced him to step back from public life, which clearly he didn't want to do,' one source told the biographer, recalling how she stripped Andrew of his public roles after his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019. 'I don't think we should underestimate what it would take for a mother to do that. Throughout, she showed that when it came to the demands of family over the role, the role would win out.'

Giuffre, who later died by suicide in April 2025, had accused Andrew of abusing her on multiple occasions when she was a teenager. In her posthumous memoir, Nobody's Girl, she wrote of being 'forced to have intercourse' with him and described the prince as 'friendly enough, but still entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright.'

Those are allegations Andrew and his legal team rejected.

A Monarch Balancing Duty, Favourites And 'Spares'

Hardman argues that the Queen's approach to Andrew cannot be separated from her broader instincts as a mother and grandmother. In a separate interview with The Telegraph, he said Elizabeth had 'extreme compassion' for both Andrew and Prince Harry, seeing them as 'spares' whose roles were always less clearly defined than those of their elder siblings.

'The Queen always adored Harry,' Hardman said. He noted that her shy father, King George VI, had himself been a spare, thrust onto the throne after Edward VIII's abdication, and that her sister, Princess Margaret, lived in the shadow of the crown. Elizabeth, he suggested, was acutely aware of the pressures that come with being the second son.

That sympathy did not stop her from taking visible action when Andrew became a liability. After the Newsnight broadcast, in which he attempted to explain away his Epstein links and failed to express clear regret for their friendship, she removed his remaining public duties.

Epstein Scandal Still Haunts The Royal Family

If Queen Elizabeth hoped that paying towards Andrew's settlement would draw a line under the scandal, events have proved otherwise.

In the years after her death in 2022, King Charles III went further.

In October 2025, Charles stripped his younger brother of his remaining honours and removed him from Royal Lodge, the Windsor home Andrew had occupied for decades. The disgraced royal later relocated to Marsh Farm on the Sandringham Estate, with reports suggesting he would live out his days there without the staff and privileges he once enjoyed, and without his ex‑wife, Sarah Ferguson, under the same roof.

In 2026, Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, accused of providing information to Epstein while serving as the United Kingdom's trade envoy. He has not been convicted of any offence, and the allegations remain under investigation.

King Charles responded with an unusually forthright written statement, released via the BBC. 'I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten‑Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office,' he said. He stressed that there should be 'full, fair and proper process' and that the authorities had the family's 'full and wholehearted support and co‑operation.' He added: 'Let me state clearly: the law must take its course.'

Queen's 'Glue' Role Lauded During Moments of Crisis

Former royal press secretary Ailsa Anderson, speaking separately, has defended the late Queen's broader record, describing her as 'the glue that kept us all together' during moments of 'anguish, stress and crisis.'

'They're survivors. The monarchy has weathered far worse,' she said.

As of this reporting, there is no official confirmation of the exact sums involved or the proportion covered by the late Queen.

Andrew Mountbatten‑Windsor, 66, has spent years under intense scrutiny over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The former Duke of York strenuously denied Giuffre's allegations that he sexually abused her when she was 17 and under Epstein's control, but in 2022, he agreed to a civil settlement reportedly worth around $16 million. Multiple news outlets have reported that the late Queen Elizabeth contributed a substantial portion of that sum from her own resources.

While the monarchy has weathered centuries of scandal, Andrew's investigation remains a unique test of its survival in a modern age. As the authorities continue their 2026 probe, the legacy of Elizabeth II's 'one big mistake' is being written in the headlines of a nation still grappling with the fallout.