The Queen showed her support for her son, the Duke of York, as he was plunged into a further round of damaging allegations following the apparent suicide of his former friend, the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

She chose to sit next to the embattled Duke in a car, accompanied by his daughter Princess Beatrice, on the way to church at Balmoral on Sunday morning. All three could be seen smiling inside the vehicle.

The monarch's intervention came as prosecutors in New York said they were continuing to investigate a "conspiracy" of sex trafficking minors, and their attention turned to living associates of Epstein.

The Duke was last night braced for the release of further court documents.

Adam Citron, a former New York prosecutor, told The Telegraph the prosecutors would "absolutely" want to speak to the Duke and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's British former girlfriend, as witnesses as they built up a picture of Epstein's world.