Scandal-plagued Andrew breaks cover after seven weeks

The scandal-plagued former prince has finally been seen in public as he’s dealt fresh blows over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

IN LONDON

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has broken cover for the first time since being stripped of his titles amid the fallout from his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew, formerly the Duke of York, was pictured horseriding at the top of the Long Walk, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, with a female companion on Monday morning.

It was not far from his soon-to-be-former home, the Royal Lodge, a sprawling mansion owned by the Crown Estate, which he is being evicted from in the near future.

Sources close to him have claimed that he’s spending his final weeks “ranting to himself” and is largely isolated.

It’s understood he’ll be moving to a smaller home owned by the King on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk at some point in early 2026.

In October, the King decided to strip his brother of his titles and honours and formally evict him as public pressure mounted over his connection to convicted sex offender Epstein.

Andrew was spotted horseriding near his home this week after nearly two months holed up in his Royal Lodge home. Picture: Jordan Pettitt/Pool/AFP

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The years-long scandal surrounding Andrew had reignited last month as a result of a leaked email from the former prince to Epstein, weeks after the date he’d declared they’d cut off all contact with each other. The new leaked email also coincided with the release Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, Nobody’s Girl, in which she detailed her alleged sexual encounters with Andrew, one of which she claimed happened when she was just 17 years old.

Andrew has always denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

Another bombshell email recently surfaced between Ghislaine Maxwell, a friend of Andrew’s who was convicted of sex trafficking minors in 2021, to Epstein in which she appears to confirm the royal received a “massage” at her home in London.

“I have to distance myself from you in a statement too,” she wrote in the January 2015 email.

“And they need me to say I was not aware of massage w/andrew in my house.”

Epstein replied: “I am on the phone with another attny (sic) getting you an answer.”

Ms Giuffre had alleged that she had sex with Andrew at Maxwell’s Belgravia home in 2001, which he has always denied.

Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson are being evicted from Royal Lodge. Picture: Chris Jackson/Pool/AFP

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With the release of Ms Giuffre’s posthumous memoir in October, which coincided with the leak of damaging emails from Andrew regarding his ties to convicted sex offender Epstein and the revelation that he had not paid rent on his palatial home in 22 years, the scrutiny over Andrew had reached unprecedented levels.

In an initial statement released in early October via Buckingham Palace, designed to put a stop to the fallout, Andrew offered to give up the “use” of his Duke of York title so as to no longer “distract” from the royal family’s work.

The King moved against his brother as public pressure mounted. Picture: AP Photo/Joanna Chan, File

However, the effort fell flat as public outcry grew, prompting the King to go further.

After releasing the statement pledging to officially strip his brother of his HRH style and “prince” title, the King followed through by issuing a letters patent early last week.

Members of Congress in the US also recently sent a summoning letter to Andrew, calling on him to finally explain his “longstanding friendship” with Epstein in a transcribed interview “in the interest of justice for the victims”.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is investigating the sex trafficking operations run by Epstein, stated that they had a “suspicion that [Andrew] may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

It referenced “well-documented allegations” against Andrew, his “longstanding friendship with Mr Epstein” and reports that he ordered a protection officer to “dig up dirt” for a smear campaign against Virginia Giuffre.

A leaked email, sent by Andrew to Epstein in 2011 in which he claims they are “in this together”, was also raised.

While the Congress called on Andrew to co-operate in its investigation, he is under no legal obligation to actually fly to Washington D.C. and do so.

– with The Sun

Originally published as Scandal-plagued Andrew breaks cover after seven weeks