Blindsided at Balmoral ANDREW'S TOUR DE FORCE

Keen to get back into royal life, the duke's putting pressure on the Queen

- Judy Kean

It’s meant to be the Queen’s happy place; the royal residence where she can spend her summer holidays escaping the stress of being monarch. But this year, Her Majesty’s annual

break at Balmoral in Scotland got off to a tense start when her second son Prince Andrew arrived before the rest of the family to spend time alone with his mother, having a showdown over his future.

The disgraced Duke of York spent three days locked in “intense talks” with the Queen, trying to negotiate a way back to royal life after being stripped of his HRH status over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. He also lost his military and charitable affiliations after paying millions of pounds in an out-of-court settlement to Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.

Andrew, 62, has denied doing anything wrong and wants to return to his role as a senior working royal, says a palace source, hence his appeal to his mother at Balmoral.

“He knows he let his mother down badly but he hasn’t been convicted of a crime,” says the insider. “He wants to try to establish a route back. He’s hoping the Queen can influence Prince Charles and Prince William, who see no way back for him.”

One of Andrew’s friends says, “He’s a 62-year-old man who knows that he can’t spend the rest of his days sitting around at Royal Lodge in Windsor, walking his dogs and riding horses. He’s thinking about what he can do with his life and has had discussions with the Queen about that.”