DUKE OF HAZARD
Prince Andrew’s BBC blunder
IS HE A ROYAL IN RUINS?
Prince Andrew’s televised interview about his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t a “car crash”. It was a major pile-up – and vehicles are still driving into it.
His decision to talk to
BBC’s Newsnight programme intended to clear the air, both about his friendship with Epstein and the claims that have been made by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts, who alleges the Duke of York slept with her, at Epstein’s instigation, three times when she was 17.
Interviewer Emily Maitlis (49) asked how the men became friends. Andrew said they met in 1999 through Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. They saw each other two or three times a year, with the prince staying at Epstein’s properties. “But it would be a considerable stretch to say that he was a very, very close friend,” he said.
Emily wondered if the attraction was partly because he was seen as a “party prince”.
“I don’t know why I’ve collected that title because… I never have really partied,” said Andrew (59). Cue British newspapers digging up many images showing the prince partying with numerous young women.
And Andrew hosted a birthday party for Ghislaine at Sandringham which Epstein attended, said Emily. “No, it was a shooting weekend,” said Andrew. “Just a straightforward shooting weekend.”
She pointed out that Andrew had been on his not-very-close friend’s private plane, stayed on his private island and at his mansions in Palm Beach and New York as well as at Ghislaine’s house in London, where others allege (very) young women abounded. The duke saw nothing untoward. “Nothing,” he insisted.
In May 2006, Epstein was issued with a warrant for child sex offences. Two months later, Epstein and Ghislaine attended Princess Beatrice’s 18th birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle.
Andrew denied knowing about the warrant. “I knew nothing about it,” he said, explaining he found out later that year and ceased contact.
In 2008, Epstein was jailed for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. He was released in July 2010 and Andrew visited him that December for four days.
“I went there with the sole purpose of saying to him that because he had been convicted, it was inappropriate for us to be seen together... I felt that doing it over the telephone was the chicken’s way of doing it.
“I admit fully that my judgment was probably coloured by my tendency to be too honourable.”
Virginia (35) alleges that on March 10, 2001, she and the prince had dinner and danced at London’s Tramp nightclub before having sex at Ghislaine’s house. He “sweated profusely”.
Andrew has “no recollection” of meeting Virginia and told Emily, “I don’t know where
the bar is in Tramps (sic).”
Plus, the prince asserted, he couldn’t have been there that day because a) “I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at, I suppose, sort of four or five in the afternoon” and b) “The duchess was away, and we have a simple rule in the family that when one is away the other one is there.”
This memory from 18 years ago has been ridiculed given Woking is just an hour’s drive from London and occasions where both Andrew and exwife Sarah, Duchess of York haven’t been at home have been recorded, with photo evidence.
It’s impossible too, said Andrew, that he sweated.
“I have a peculiar medical condition… I didn’t sweat at the time because I had suffered what I would describe as an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands’ War.”
As for a photo of him with his arm around Virginia’s waist, Andrew had “no recollection” of it, and explained that in London “I wear a suit and tie”. Photos of the duke in the UK capital in casual clothes have also now been republished.
After the broadcast, Andrew thought it went well, allegedly telling friends, “Mission accomplished”. He was soon disillusioned, so much so he has now announced he will step back from royal duties.
“It has become clear to me... that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities I am proud to support,” he said.
“I have asked Her
Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, and she has given her permission.”
Doubts have arisen about his involvement in 189 charities while the prince’s business startup project Pitch@Palace has had to take down its online list of 35 key business sponsors as some have withdrawn support while others are reviewing.
There is intense pressure on Andrew to go to the US to give evidence to the FBI and, damningly, a poll shows just six percent of Britons think he is telling the truth.
“I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein,” Andrew said in his statement last Thursday. “I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected… Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.”
And another juggernaut is about to hit the wreckage with the news that Virginia has given an interview to BBC current affairs flagship Panorama. Prince Andrew may be stepping back from royal duties but the scandal, it seems, will still persist.