Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was long known as Queen Elizabeth’s favorite child, and even after his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein came to the light, the late Queen was hesitant to demote her son in the Royal Family. In royal author and journalist Robert Jobson’s new book, The Windsor Legacy, he detailed Queen Elizabeth’s reaction when the former Duke of York was accused of sexual assault.

Writing that “public outrage exploded” following the late Virginia Giuffre’s accusations against Andrew and his resulting 2019 Newsnight interview, Jobson penned that it was King Charles (then Prince Charles) who made “urgent” calls to his mother and “insisted that Andrew had to be cut adrift.” Queen Elizabeth, for her part, “acted swiftly to protect the monarchy,” as Jobson wrote, but found breaking the news to Andrew to be “painful.”

It was decided that Andrew’s royal patronages and military titles would be taken away, and in an attempt to “soften the blow,” Queen Elizabeth “arranged to have a private one-to-one meeting” with her son, per the author. However, senior members of palace staff stepped in and “insisted on being there.”

“The two senior courtiers told The Queen it was imperative that they witnessed the conversation,” Jobson wrote, adding that the late Queen’s private secretary, Sir Edward Young, and Sir Michael Stevens, Keeper of the Privy Purse, attended the meeting.

“Andrew understandably felt blindsided, though this was far from her intention, as sources close to her confirmed,” Jobson noted, describing the meeting as “a painful moment for both mother and son.”

Although Andrew was forced to step down from life as a senior working royal, Queen Elizabeth “stood by him, loyal to the end,” as the author wrote. She even asked him to escort her to a 2022 church service celebrating the life of the late Prince Philip, despite the former duke rarely making public appearances at the time.

“You have to remember, he is my son,” she reportedly told a friend.