He has borne the nickname of ‘Playboy Prince’ long before his nephew Harry hit the party scene, but Prince Andrew’s recent troubles are much more serious, with Buckingham Palace being forced to deny claims of underage sex against him.
At the centre of the claims is Prince Andrew’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, a multi-millionaire investor who was sentenced to 18-months in prison for soliciting paid sex with a minor. The minor, now known to be Virginia Roberts, has filed a civil case against the US government over the plea deal it struck with Epstein.
In the papers filed at a Florida court, Roberts claims she was kept as a sex slave by Epstein and forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on at least two occasions. Several other prominent businessmen and politicians have also been named in the papers.
A Palace aide said, “When there are lurid and deeply personal allegations made against you to a national newspaper that are directly linked to a civil case in which you are accused of having sexual relations with underage minors, the natural instinct is to come out and say it is not true.
“The Duke did not want these claims to go uncontested. Commenting on a member of the royal family’s private life or commenting an ongoing legal case goes against what the palace would do typically.
“The default position is no comment but these are extraordinary circumstances and given the allegations filed in court and coming from the Sunday papers, the decision was taken that it was time to issue a denial on the record.”
Read more at The Guardian.
