The six bombshell words Andrew Mountbatten Windsor told a national treasure have been exposed by royal biographer Andrew Lownie. In his latest book Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, Lownie took readers back to 1987 for the charity event It’s a Royal Knockout, which took place at theme park Alton Towers.

The medieval-themed event featured Andrew, Sarah Ferguson and Princess Anne participating in slapstick games alongside celebrities, with Prince Edward acting as the brainchild behind the project. One such celebrity in attendance was Bat Out of Hell singer Meat Loaf, who had a bit of a spat with Andrew.

Lownie writes in his book: “Andrew also tried to push Meat Loaf into a moat after he felt the singer had taken too great an interest in Ferguson.

“The US rocker, dressed in a fake suit of armour, responded by grabbing the duke, who reportedly moaned, ‘You can’t touch me, I’m royal’.”

Lownie claims Meat Loaf told him: “Well, you try to push me in the moat, Jack, I don’t give a s*** who you are, you’re goin’ in the moat.”

Meat Loaf himself has confirmed the incident happened, admitting in a 2003 Guardian interview that he did call Andrew “Jack”.

He said: “Fergie wasn't exactly flirting with me, but she was paying attention to me, and I think Andrew got a little—I could be wrong, I'm just reading into this—I think he got a little jealous.”

The singer said the late Queen “hated” him because of the incident, of which Lownie writes: “[Ferguson] urged Meat Loaf to ‘steal Andrew’s panda mascot and stuff it down his trousers’.”