Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is at the center of new allegations of a shocking physical confrontation inside the palace. By: MEGA
A dispute between Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and one of the late Queen Elizabeth II‘s top aides allegedly turned physical when the disgraced royal, then still known as Prince Andrew, was told “no,” a new book reveals.
The former Duke of York erupted, launching a “physical altercation” after demanding Master of the Household Vice Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt accommodate an event for Mountbatten-Windsor’s Pitch@Palace program — a now-defunct entrepreneurial initiative to connect technology and innovative startups with investors and mentors — and hearing the palace wasn’t available, according to author Robert Hardman‘s upcoming biography, Elizabeth II.
‘The duke went for him’
Vice Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt is a retired Royal Navy officer who continues to serve as the master of the household for King Charles III following his tenure with the late Queen Elizabeth II. By: Mirrorpix / MEGA
“It was a routine household matter. The duke wanted to have a reception and there wasn’t any room. It was as simple as that,” a senior staffer told Hardman. “Tony said he’d have to wait his turn like anybody else and the duke went for him.”
As Hardman writes in his book, which was excerpted in Daily Mail, “It was not just an outburst of expletives and a jab of a finger but what one member of staff described as a ‘kinetic’ blow. Even by Andrew’s standards, it caused astonishment.”
Johnstone-Burt was a respected and senior figure in the household. Like Mountbatten-Windsor, he’d been a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War.
“He had then gone on to a very distinguished Royal Naval career, rising to captain of the carrier HMS Ocean and commanding Joint Helicopter Command before becoming a popular, long-serving master of the household,” Hardman writes, adding that Johnstone-Burt’s department “included more royal employees than any other.”
The aftermath
Despite his strained standing with members of the royal household, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor still enjoyed his mother Queen Elizabeth II’s support in private, a new book claims. By: Eliot Press / ELIOTPRESS / MEGA
Hardman explains that Johnstone-Burt reported the incident to the most senior official in the royal household, Lord Chamberlain Lord William Peel, who then raised it with the then-Prince of Wales — the current King Charles III. Charles confronted his brother about what had happened.
Mountbatten-Windsor — who was stripped of his royal titles in late 2025 amid increasing scrutiny of his ties to predator Jeffrey Epstein — later phoned Lord Peel, but according to Hardman’s book, the ex-Duke of York was unapologetic. “I gather you’ve been calling people and causing problems,” Mountbatten-Windsor allegedly said.
That prompted a face-to-face meeting in which Lord Peel made his position clear. “I’ve been told you’ve been treating members of the household in a wholly inappropriate way. It’s got to stop,” Lord Peel said, as reported by Hardman.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, the incident was not initially raised with the queen, as it had already been escalated through senior palace officials.
But Mountbatten-Windsor’s father heard about it and tried to make amends.
“The duke’s behavior was so alarming that it stirred Prince Philip from his retirement to write a letter of apology to Johnstone-Burt,” Hardman reveals, adding that “Andrew was prevailed upon to write one himself (described by one member of staff as a ‘sorry — not sorry’ letter).”
The queen’s reaction
When the monarch eventually heard about what her son had done, “a senior member of staff tried to downplay it to spare her blushes,” Hardman writes.
However, the author adds, “She was unfazed. ‘Oh, I’m sure he did it,’ she replied. ‘That’s the sort of thing he does.’”
After that, there was “no further manhandling of staff,” the author writes.
But privately, “Andrew still had the queen’s ear,” Hardman confirms.
One long-serving member of the royal household told the author that Elizabeth “was always worried about [Mountbatten-Windsor].” She saw him as vulnerable and felt he had been manipulated by bad people, and she took him at his word.
“He was like his father in that he could be rude to people, but he was just not as intelligent [as Philip]…” the member of the royal household added, explaining, “He created a character that allowed him to survive in the circles he mixed in, which was this rude, blustering, boring man.”