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Widely purported to have been the late Queen’s “favourite” child, Prince Andrew has suffered a sharp fall from grace over the last decade.

Plagued by a string of controversies, the latest blow has seen a “close confidante” being banned from the UK over allegations he was a Chinese spy.

Here, The Independent takes a look at a timeline of Andrew’s fall from grace and his retreat from the public eye.

Queen’s favourite

open image in gallery The Queen with her son in 2019 ( Neil Hall/EPA )

The Queen stood by Andrew’s side even when he was caught up in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in 2019 and “stepped back from royal duties for the foreseeable future”.

In October 2021, it was claimed the monarch intended to spend millions of pounds privately funding her son’s defence against allegations of sexual abuse made by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre.

She also signalled her support for her disgraced son by arriving alongside him for Prince Philip’s memorial service in March 2021.

Andrew provided a steady arm for the Queen as she walked into Westminster Abbey to remember the life of her husband, just a few weeks after he reached a multimillion-pound out-of-court settlement with Ms Giuffre.

Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

open image in gallery Ghislaine Maxwell and Je