Documents have revealed Queen Elizabeth II was “very keen” that the former prince Andrew be given a job as a British trade envoy.

The UK government on Thursday (local time) released the confidential papers related to the late queen’s second son’s appointment, just months after MPs accused him of putting his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein ahead of the nation.

“The Queen is very keen that the Duke of York should take on a prominent role in the promotion of national interests,” the head of Britain’s trade body wrote in a letter.

Another document, a government memo sent to British trade staff around the world, said “HRH’s high public profile” would require “careful and sometimes strict media management”, in a reference to the prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

The involvement of the late queen will confirm previously held beliefs that the monarch held a soft spot for her son — an empathy that might have influenced her lack of decisiveness in dealing with allegations of his connection to Epstein.

Trade Minister Chris Bryant said in a statement to MPs that “we have found no evidence that a formal due diligence or vetting process was undertaken” before Mountbatten-Windsor was appointed to the role.

“There is also no evidence that this was considered. This is understandable since this new appointment was a continuation of the royal family’s involvement in trade and investment promotion work following the Duke of Kent’s decision to relinquish his duties as vice-chairman of the Overseas Trade Board,” he said.

He said the government was co-operating with Thames Valley Police on their investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor and his possible misconduct in public office.

The former prince was arrested on his birthday in February and held by police for some hours before being released.

Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal title in 2025 as his brother the King tried to insulate the monarchy from the growing fallout from the Epstein scandal.

The former prince was a special envoy for Britain’s international trade from 2001 to 2011. He was forced to give up the role because of concerns about his links to questionable figures in Libya and Azerbaijan.

The move followed the US Justice Department’s release of millions of pages of documents related to Epstein.

Those files showed how the criminal financier used an international web of rich, powerful friends to gain influence and sexually exploit young women and girls.

Nowhere has the fallout from the document release been felt more strongly than in Britain, where the scandal has raised questions about the way power is wielded by the aristocracy, senior politicians and influential business owners, known collectively as “the Establishment”.