When Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor didn’t get what he wanted, he chose violence, a royal biographer has claimed in a new book marking the late Queen Elizabeth II‘s birth centenary.
According to author Robert Hardman, the former Duke of York once got into a heated confrontation with one of the monarch’s top aides after being told a room he wanted to use to host an event at Buckingham Palace wasn’t available.
The argument then allegedly turned physical, leading both King Charles III and his late father, Prince Philip, to intervene in the aftermath.
Hardman detailed the incident in his new book Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story and recently discussed it on Newsweek‘s “Royal Report” podcast, describing how the situation spiraled.
The dispute began when the queen’s second son attempted to book space for his Pitch@Palace program — a now-defunct entrepreneurial initiative to connect technology and innovative startups with investors and mentors — and learned from Master of the Household Vice Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt that none were available.
“Andrew went to him and said, ‘Right, I need a room for this,’” Hardman told Newsweek Chief Royal Correspondent Jack Royston. “And [Johnstone-Burt] said, ‘Well, they’re all full. We’re busy.’ There was a banquet or something coming up. He said, ‘No, no, no. I need this.’”
Johnstone-Burt stood firm, replying, “Well, you’ll have to wait like everybody else,” but the disgraced former royal allegedly refused to back down and “it just sort of got more and more heated,” Hardman said.
“I don’t know the precise nature of the conversation, but it concluded with Prince Andrew, as he was then, landing an, as I said [in the book], ‘kinetic blow’ on the master [of the household].”
Senior royals react
Master of the Household Vice Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt — the military veteran Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor allegedly attacked — was “a very, very popular figure around the household,” author Robert Hardman told the “Royal Report” podcast from “Newsweek.” By: Mirrorpix / MEGA
News of the incident made its way to the senior royals.
Johnstone-Burt reportedly “backed off,” Hardman said, and informed his superior, the Lord Chamberlain Earl William Peel, who then alerted Charles, who was the Prince of Wales at the time.
The future king raised the issue “with the Duke of York, with Andrew, who then started going back down the chain [of command] and accusing the lord chamberlain of causing trouble,” Hardman said.
“So the lord chamberlain goes around and sees him and says, ‘You just can’t treat staff like this.’ At this point, everyone’s had enough of Andrew,” he added.
Mountbatten-Windsor later issued what Hardman described as a “sorry, not sorry” apology, but the situation was serious enough that the then-Duke of York’s father, Philip, stepped in, writing directly to Johnstone-Burt to express regret over what had happened.
Pattern of behavior under scrutiny
“Word did reach the queen,” Hardman said, noting there were concerns about how she’d react. “People were terrified that she might be very upset. As ever, she knew exactly what was going on. She had a very keen ear to the ground. She knew the story and was not actually surprised. She effectively said that’s the sort of thing he does.”
Hardman’s retelling has added to questions about how senior royals and palace officials handled concerns about Mountbatten-Windsor’s behavior and what The Firm really knew behind the scenes in the years leading up to the ex-Duke of York’s fall from grace.
Mountbatten-Windsor was forced to step back from royal duties in 2019 after backlash over his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and a disastrous interview on the BBC’s Newsnight that fall, which came a few months after the predator died in jail while awaiting trial on trafficking charges.
In that same BBC interview, Mountbatten-Windsor also addressed allegations he’d abused Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre in 2001. He denied her claims and said he had “no recollection” of ever meeting her. In 2022, however, he settled a civil lawsuit she filed against him for a reported $16 million without admitting liability.
In the fall of 2025, as more information about Mountbatten-Windsor’s Epstein ties emerged, Charles stripped his brother of his royal titles. In early 2026, the king forced the retired Royal Navy helicopter pilot out of his 30-room Crown Estate mansion, Royal Lodge, and into a more modest property on Charles’ privately owned Sandringham estate.
In February, the disgraced ex-royal was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office weeks after the U.S. Justice Department released emails suggesting he’d passed along sensitive government documents to Epstein while serving as Britain’s trade envoy.