Prince Andrew will NEVER return to the royal fold and will be ‘forced out’ of the Royal Lodge after documents relating to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein detailing sexual assault …
By Sam Greenhill[1] and Rebecca English[2]
Published: 22:18, 4 January 2024 | Updated: 07:50, 5 January 2024
Andrew will never return to the royal fold after the release of documents detailing sexual assault allegations, insiders said last night.
Papers released by a New York court in the early hours of yesterday thrust the Duke of York’s relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein[3] back into the spotlight with claims that the prince committed ‘acts of sexual abuse’ and took part in an ‘underage orgy’.
Andrew has vehemently and repeatedly denied all allegations against him. Yesterday well-placed sources told the Mail that while the court claims were not a surprise, they will have served to ‘crystallise’ King Charles’s determination to solve the ‘Andrew problem’ decisively.
Plans were already in train to evict him from Royal Lodge, his ten-bedroom Windsor home since 2003, and move him to a smaller residence in keeping with his ‘downgraded’ status.
The newly released court documents are believed to have strengthened the King’s resolve that Andrew will never be allowed to resume royal duties.
Prince Andrew pictured walking with Jeffrey Epstein in New York’s Central Park in 2011
Prince Andrew and King Charles III speak following a vigil in memory of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in September 2022
A source said: ‘When it comes to any public role for his brother, there is no way back.
‘There has always been an agreement that Andrew would be permitted to attend private and family events, as is his right. But not public or official ones.
That has not changed.’
Andrew has refused requests by Charles to move into smaller Frogmore Cottage, which had belonged to Harry and Meghan before they left for the US.
It is now understood the King will redouble his efforts to move his brother in the coming months.
A source said: ‘When it comes to family, it is difficult. But this association is just never going to go away. And that means he [Andrew] has to.’
The newly unsealed documents relate to a Manhattan defamation case brought in 2015 by the duke’s accuser Virginia Giuffre, nee Roberts, against Ghislaine Maxwell, who acted as Epstein’s ‘madame’.
Andrew, who has spent years trying to rebuild his shattered public image, is mentioned 69 times in the new files, along with dozens of high-profile associates of the late paedophile financier.
They include a deposition from Jane Doe 3 – who was later identified as Ms Giuffre – who claims she was forced to have sex with the duke on three occasions, including when she was 17.
She claims Epstein ordered she ‘give the prince whatever he demanded’, including ‘an orgy with numerous other underaged girls’ on the financier’s Caribbean island Little Saint James.
Prince Andrew with Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell at Maxwell’s London home
She alleged that British socialite Maxwell, the daughter of Robert Maxwell, ‘facilitated Prince Andrew’s acts of sexual abuse by acting as a ‘madame’ for Epstein’.
In a further blow to Andrew, the documents from the case are expected to be released on a ‘rolling basis’, meaning he could potentially face days of embarrassing headlines about his friendship with Epstein.
Among yesterday’s explosive court documents are claims that:
- Andrew put his ‘hand on the boobs’ of another alleged Epstein victim;
- Money was offered to disprove the claim that Professor Stephen Hawking ‘participated in an underage orgy’;
- Epstein once claimed former US president Bill Clinton ‘likes them young’;
- Paedophile Michael Jackson was among the guests at Epstein’s private island;
- Magician David Copperfield asked one alleged victim if she knew girls were being paid to procure others.
Mr Copperfield denies all allegations of wrongdoing, while a spokesman for Mr Clinton reiterated a previous statement that he knew nothing of Epstein’s ‘terrible crimes’ during their past friendship.
Following the release of the documents, Ms Giuffre triumphantly posted to X, formerly Twitter, noting that so many people were downloading the new court files that the system had crashed.
She wrote: ‘We broke the website.’
Andrew was recently said to have been ‘at a loss, totally tormented’ by the prospect of the scandal being dragged up again.
The duke stepped down as a working royal in 2019 after his ‘car crash’ Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, in which he was ridiculed for denying Ms Guiffre’s claims the pair had sex in London when she was 17 by saying he had been at Pizza Express in Woking on the night in question.
In 2021 Andrew then faced a sexual assault lawsuit brought against him in New York by Ms Giuffre, now a mother-of-three living in Australia. In February 2022, he settled the case, paying her a reported GBP10 million, while denying all her claims and maintaining he did not remember ever meeting her.
His mother the late Queen had, by that point, already stripped him of his royal patronages and military titles. But there has been speculation that recent appearances at major public events, such as the late Queen’s platinum jubilee and at church with the Royal Family on Christmas Day, could signal a thawing on that position.
However, sources have suggested this is not the case.
One source, who has dealt with Andrew extensively, said: ‘The Palace can’t ignore it, this isn’t going away.
He paid that vast amount of money to Virginia Roberts. If he thought the money was going to make it go away, it’s had the opposite effect. It’s given it legs.
People think ‘no smoke without fire’.’
They added: ‘This young woman, supposedly powerless, has had the last laugh. She’s got his money and found a way to publicly name and shame him through legal court documents he has no redress against once again.
The then-Prince Charles and Prince Andrew share a word from the balcony of Buckingham Palace while their mother Queen Elizabeth II looks on during Trooping The Colour in 2019
‘He’s guilty of bringing the institution into disrepute.’
Another source added: ‘Forty years ago he was a hero naval officer, charming and good looking. What a meteoric downfall.
He was never clever about the company he kept. In fact he’s not very clever, full stop.
‘He doesn’t like taking advice and has a severe lack of judgment, as well as historically surrounding himself by people who told him he could walk on water. If you are surrounded by sycophants like that, you believe your own Press.
‘The Palace needs to get a grip on this.
It’s difficult for the family. He is still their flesh and blood. But King Charles must act.
‘Of course, if [Andrew] was a thoroughly nice chap, then people would be more willing to consider all sides.
But he’s not.
Prince Andrew at Sandringham on Christmas Day, 2023.
He is said to have avoided prosecutors questions in 2019 despite publicly vowing to assist with the investigation into Epstein
‘It’s a classic example: if you are not very nice to people on your way up, be careful on your way down… It’s rare that you find someone who so few people have something good to say about.’
Royal biographer Tom Bower urged the Royal Family to ‘bury and forget’ Prince Andrew as he was in ‘self-denial’ about his association with Epstein. He said: ‘It’s a danger for the Palace, they don’t know what more bombs will be dropped.
He’s not telling them.’
Meanwhile, pressure was mounting after anti-monarchy campaigners reported the duke to the Metropolitan Police last night.
The force had previously stated in August 2022 that it would take no further action over allegations made against Epstein and stood by its decision in 2015 not to investigate Ms Giuffre’s claims that she was sex trafficked to London.
Graham Smith, of the group Republic, said: ‘I have reported Andrew to the police, well aware that the Met claims to have looked into this before.
‘I am calling on the Met police to re-open this case, I am calling on MPs to debate this affair in Parliament, and I am calling on Charles to make a public statement.
‘At the time of the alleged offences, Andrew was a government trade ambassador and an active member of the Royal Family.’ Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on the latest revelations and could not even say who was now representing Andrew, since he is no longer a working royal.
Documents released this week claimed Andrew called financier Jeffrey Epstein (pictured) weekly and jetted to his private Caribbean retreat
His most recent solicitor did not respond to a request for clarification or comment.
Many of the mentions of the duke in the documents are found in the testimony of Johanna Sjoberg, another of Epstein’s ‘sex slaves’ who has told how she sat on Andrew’s lap while he fondled her breast at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2007.
In her first full account of the disputed episode, never made public before, Ms Sjoberg – who was a 20-year-old student at the time – says: ‘I just remember the boobs part, the hand on the boobs.’
The latest dossier from the Epstein files runs to nearly 1,000 pages and comes from a court case in 2016, when Ms Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation after the heiress denied her child sex accusations. As part of that case, Ms Giuffre made claims about 187 Epstein friends and associates.
That case was settled in 2017, and the court ordered many of the files be kept secret. But the Miami Herald newspaper successfully applied for them to be made public by the court.
REBECCA ENGLISH: The King WILL move forward with plan to evict Andrew from home at Royal Lodge
The King is set to move forward with plans to evict Prince Andrew from his Windsor mansion by the end of the year.
The Duke of York is expected to pay for the upkeep of the 30-room Royal Lodge – his home since 2003 – out of his own pocket.
But he is said to have provided little response to Charles’s questions over how he intends to cover the costs needed annually now that he is no longer a working royal.
The issue has not been forced while the beleaguered duke mourned his late mother and supported ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, who also resides there, through her breast cancer battle.
But the King, who has reportedly been covering the GBP3million annual cost of his brother’s security, does not have limitless pockets – and royal patience is understood to be wearing thin.
Old home? Prince Andrew has been living at the 30-room Royal Lodge since 2003… but it is said to be in need of costly repairs
This means that Andrew, 63, faces stumping up the money himself, which royal insiders believe he simply does not have.
His Majesty is determined to press ahead and ask his younger brother to vacate Royal Lodge for a smaller, more affordable and better protected property on the royal estate.
Following the latest revelations over Andrew’s links with Epstein, multiple sources indicated to the Mail yesterday that the King was poised to take decisive action with regards to his brother.
One insider told the Mail: ‘The fact that his name appears on the [Epstein] list will be no surprise to anyone, least of all His Majesty.
‘But it will underline the need for him to maintain his [Andrew’s] ‘retired royal’ status.
‘No matter how much he wants to come back, this association is just never going to go away.
And that means he [Andrew] has to.’
First and foremost that means no return to royal duties, despite recent speculation of a thaw in the prince’s exiled status.
Another source with understanding of the palace’s position on the matter says Charles has ‘long been firm on his thinking’ over this, even before he became King.
They added: ‘The duke was always very good at getting round their mother, the late Queen. Pressuring her quietly to support him. He was her achilles’ heel and she absolutely put her head in the sand over anything to do with him.
‘The King loves his brother and hates confrontation but has had to make a ‘business’ decision.’
There are no plans to strip Andrew of his HRH title, his dukedom – given to him as a wedding present by his mother – nor other honours such as the Order of the Garter.
New home? Andrew’s daughter Eugenie stayed at Frogmore with her family after Harry and Meghan moved to California
However, he has been barred from using HRH publicly and for the past two years has been prohibited from joining senior royals for the Garter Day procession every June.
He is free to undertake private charity work, should any wish to work with him.
The biggest remaining question mark, therefore, hovers over the Lodge, the last vestige of his once-favoured royal status.
The King is unable to evict his brother, whose lease on the late Queen Mother’s home reportedly has 80 years left to run.
But Charles is able to demand that it is maintained to a high standard – and it is understood there is a significant backlog of essential repairs to be done.
Andrew has so far failed to adequately respond to requests to prove how he will able to afford these, as well as the ongoing upkeep of the vast house and gardens.
While the King hasn’t pushed the matter in recent months due to extenuating circumstances, it is understood that he will be doubling down for a resolution again this year.
Events of recent days have only emphasised how important it is that this is sorted sooner rather than later.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, arriving at St Mary Magdalene Church on Sandringham Estate on Christmas Day
It will leave Andrew having to put up or get out – and nobody in royal circles believes the duke can pay.
Charles’s offer of Frogmore Cottage, the five-bedroom home once lived in by Harry and Meghan, is still on the table.
As well as being smaller, more manageable and having the benefit of being recently renovated, it is also closer to Windsor Castle’s ‘ring of steel’, meaning the cost of protecting Andrew would be significantly lower.
Many say moving to Frogmore would provide Andrew with a more manageable lifestyle and better security in the long run.
His daughter, Princess Eugenie, stayed there for a short time with her husband and two children after the keys were taken from the Sussexes following their move to California.
However, one source close to the duke believes he is unlikely to accept this option and wants to fight his corner.
They say he has even discussed buying a new home off the royal estate rather than be publicly ‘downgraded’.
References
- ^ Sam Greenhill (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Rebecca English (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Jeffrey Epstein (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ New York (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Jeffrey Epstein (www.dailymail.co.uk)