AM I BOVVERED?
Prince Andrew shrugs off criticism of involvement with US sex offender
PRINCE Andrew has brushed aside criticism about his friendship with a US billionaire child sex offender.
Andrew’s judgment was called into question when he stayed in close contact with US financier Jeffrey Epstein, convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution and sentenced to 18 months’ prison in 2008.
It also emerged the prince, 57, gave a private tour of Buckingham Palace to actor Kevin Spacey, who is being probed by police over alleged sex offences.
Andrew said: “You don’t get it right all the time. You just have to get on with it. It Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein doesn’t bother me, really. It’s just part of life’s rich tapestry.”
The prince, a former UK global trade ambassador, referred to himself as an “ideas factory” and “the entrepreneur in residence of Buckingham Palace”.
He also defended the Queen over the €10million or so invested in funds in Cayman Islands and Bermuda tax havens by her private Duchy of
Lancaster estate.
The council of the Duchy were accused of political ineptitude over the investment revealed in the “Paradise Papers” leaked from a law firm.
Andrew said: “The money’s invested in a country in which she’s the head of state. If any of the investments have benefit derived by the Queen, she pays tax on them.”
He has also been criticised for allegedly accepting €3million over the asking price for his marital home, Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, from the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s ruler.
Andrew was said to have been paid extra to help the family buy another mansion in London.