Prince Andrew speaks out about connections to Jeffrey Epstein
Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre alleges Prince Andrew sexually abused her when she was just 17 years old; Bryan Llenas reports.
Prince Andrew’s downfall is only beginning.
Following a disastrous interview the Duke of York gave to the BBC about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, one royal expert is claiming the 59-year-old royal won’t continue with anything official in that capacity — ever.
“His entire public existence has been wiped out by his own behavior,” royal historian Robert Lacey told People magazine for this week’s issue.
Just days after the British royal announced he was “stepping away” from public duties for the “foreseeable future,” Andrew was forced to pull out of a trip to Bahrain for an international meeting of his Pitch@Palace organization, which promotes entrepreneurs and new ideas in tech, the outlet reported.
Andrew’s office is also set to be moved out of Buckingham Palace and center around Pitch rather than his own official royal work.
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Prince Andrew, right, is dealing with harsh backlash from critics and media personalities over an interview about his relationship with now-deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the numerous sexual assault allegations against the British royal. (Getty)
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Lacey shared the moves to distance the monarchy from Andrew’s connection with the disgraced financier have occurred after discussions between the prince’s mother, Queen Elizabeth, her eldest son Prince Charles, as well as other senior royals.
“[The decision] shows that the royals can move very swiftly and very ruthlessly,” said Lacey.
However, Elizabeth, 93, hasn’t completely rejected her son. The outlet revealed she was spotted alongside Andrew on horseback with two escorts on Nov. 22 — a seemingly private moment that would have been captured by photographers.
The outlet shared that the outing is likely a signal that despite her decision to ask Andrew to withdraw from public work on her behalf, the queen still stands by her son.
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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II attends the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in central London, on Nov. 10, 2019. (TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Andrew participated in a tell-all interview with the BBC in which he discussed his controversial relationship with the sex offender and the sexual assault allegations against him.
“I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever,” he said in reference to Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre), who alleged that she was forced to have sex with the Duke of York three times between 1999 and 2002 in London and on Epstein's private island in the Caribbean.
“I stayed with him and that’s [something] I kick myself for on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side down, simple as that,” the second son of Elizabeth said.
Giuffre claimed Epstein paid her to have sex with the British royal and that she was just 17 years old during her first experience.
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Photo from 2001 that was included in court files released last week shows Prince Andrew with his arm around the waist of 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre who says Jeffrey Epstein paid her to have sex with the prince. Andrew has denied the charges. In the background is Epstein's girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. (U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment. In August, the palace said in a statement that Andrew was “appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes.”
“His Royal Highness deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behavior is abhorrent,” the palace said.
The statement was released after the Mail on Sunday newspaper obtained a Dec. 6, 2010 video appearing to show Andrew inside Epstein's opulent Manhattan home as the prince waved goodbye to a young woman.
The video was recorded two years after Epstein's controversial plea deal in which he admitted to a Florida state felony charge of prostitution involving a minor. The terms of the deal included generous work release conditions for Epstein.
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Prince Andrew, Duke of York leaves the headquarters of Crossrail at Canary Wharf on March 7, 2011, in London, England. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
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Andrew was photographed with Epstein in 2010 in New York's Central Park after Epstein had finished serving his 18-month prison sentence. The photos sparked controversy at the time and led Andrew to quit his role as a UK trade envoy in 2011, according to Sky News.
In documents released in August, Johanna Sjoberg said she was 21 years old in 2001 when Andrew grabbed her breast at Epstein’s mansion in New York.
Sjoberg testified the incident was sparked when "someone" suggested those gathered take a picture, at which point Sjoberg said she and Ghislaine Maxwell (Epstein’s former girlfriend and alleged "madam") went to a closet and grabbed a puppet of Andrew.
"They told us to go get on the couch,” she said in the 2016 deposition. “And so Andrew and Virginia sat on the couch, and they put the puppet, the puppet on her lap. And so then I sat on Andrew’s lap, and, I believe on my own volition, and they took the puppet’s hands and put it on Virginia’s breast, and so Andrew put his on mine."
Prince Andrew is the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and her second son. (Reuters/Neil Hall)
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She added: “I knew it was Prince Andrew because I knew him as a person."
The court papers also include a photograph that has been in circulation since 2015 showing Andrew with his arm around Giuffre's bare waist in London in 2001. Giuffre said she was 17 at the time the photo was taken.
Fox News’ Jessica Napoli contributed to this report.
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