Backers desert ‘toxic’ Andrew as students say: You’ve failed us
THE fallout from Prince Andrew’s ‘car-crash’ BBC interview and his links with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein intensified yesterday as more organisations distanced themselves from the ‘toxic’ royal.
Following on from accountants KPMG’s announcement that it had ended its £100,000-a-year backing of the Duke of York’s Pitch@Palace business initiative, Standard Chartered bank said it too would not be renewing its partnership.
And pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said it was considering whether to renew its three-year sponsorship, which is due to expire in December.
A page listing 35 Pitch@Palace supporters has been deleted from the charity’s website – reportedly after firms, including insurers Aon, asked for their names to be removed.
Advertising Week Europe said it would no longer be inviting the duke or his Pitch@Palace team to its annual summit in London in March. And the National Business Awards has axed an entrepreneur prize sponsored by the royal.
The students’ union at Huddersfield university passed a motion lobbying for the duke to resign as chancellor because he is ‘not the right sort of role model’. And London Metropolitan University announced it will vote on whether to retain him as patron next week.
The Outward Bound Trust is deliberating over whether to remove him as patron. Andrew’s daughter Princess Beatrice is a trustee but will not attend the board meeting making the decision later this week. The Royal Geographical Society and the Jubilee Sailing Trust are also considering his patronage.
The duke has faced a storm of criti
Resign call: The prince in his role as chancellor of Huddersfield university cism since last weekend’s Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis during which he responded to claims by Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre that he had had sex with her when she
TWO prison officers on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein killed himself have been charged with falsifying records and conspiracy.
Toval Noel, 31, and Michael
was 17 in 2001. He said it could not have happened because he had taken Princess Beatrice to Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey.
The duke also faces allegations of racism, including new claims he made ‘unbelievable’ remarks about ‘Arabs’ and ‘camels’ during a state banquet for the Saudi royal family. The Palace said Prince Andrew ‘does not tolerate racism in any form’.
It comes amid reports Prince Charles wants to ‘slim down’ the monarchy after taking the throne, potentially removing the duke’s status as a ‘working royal’.
Thomas, 41, fabricated details to ‘hide’ that they were sleeping and browsing the internet, it is alleged.
A grand jury indictment accuses them of neglect by failing to check
on the 66-year-old for nearly eight hours on their watch. Epstein died in August in his New York cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, which he had denied.