Five burning questions Prince Andrew needs to answer
Prince Andrew is under increased scrutiny after being called out for not co-operating with the FBI. Here’s everything he still needs to explain.
Prince Andrew is facing renewed and intense scrutiny over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal after it emerged he has provided “zero co-operation” with the FBI’s probe.
The Duke of York, 59, has repeatedly dodged queries about his friendship with paedophile billionaire Epstein, who hanged himself in his US jail cell in August last year.
While Andrew insisted in a previous statement he was “willing to help if required” in the investigation, it is claimed he has so far failed to co-operate with New York and federal officials.
The FBI has allegedly been trying to interview the under-fire royal since November.
As pressure continues to mount on the Queen’s second son to explain himself, The Sun’s royal author Phil Dampier warns it could be too late, saying: “His reputation is in tatters and I honestly don’t know how easy it is for him to rescue it now.”
Here, Dampier looks at the five key questions Andrew must explain.
1. WAS MONEY THE REASON HE STAYED PALS WITH EPSTEIN AFTER HIS SEX CONVICTION?
Andrew and the billionaire first met in 1999 after they were reportedly introduced by Epstein’s then-girlfriend, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
But in 2008, Epstein was locked up for just over a year for soliciting and procuring an underage girl for prostitution.
He was also registered as a sex offender – but after his release, Andrew was pictured with him in Central Park. Footage of the royal at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion has also emerged.
“Andrew biggest mistake – the one he admits – is that he continued to see Epstein after his conviction,” Dampier says.
“The big question is why? He says he didn’t see any evidence of exploitation going on, but he must have known he was playing with fire.
“It makes you wonder if it was not just because he was loyal to a friend.
“If Andrew ignored advice to stay away, he only has himself to blame.”
In his car-crash interview with BBC’s Newsnight in November, the Duke of York claimed he was being “too honourable” by staying at Epstein’s house – but also insisted it was “convenient” for him.
He also apologised for his friendship with the billionaire, saying he’d “let the side down”.
His remarks followed an official statement he made last year, saying: “I have said previously that it was a mistake and an error to see him after his release in 2010, and I can only reiterate my regret that I was mistaken to think that what I thought I knew of him was evidently not the real person, given what we now know.”
According to Vanity Fair, the Prince has previously defended his friendship with Epstein, telling a concerned friend that he was “going to be loyal” to the convicted sex offender.
He is also claimed to have said: “Leave me alone. Jeffrey’s my friend.”
To date, questions still remain over his relationship with the convict.
2. WHY WAS ANDREW PICTURED WITH HIS ARM AROUND EPSTEIN’S TEEN ‘SEX SLAVE’?
In a now-infamous photo from 2001, the Duke is seen with his arm around the bare midriff of Virginia Roberts Giuffre – Epstein’s alleged ‘sex slave’ – when she was just 17.
“If ever a picture spoke a thousand words it’s this one,” Dampier said.
“It’s haunted Andrew for a decade, and no amount of spin can undo the damage.
“He wouldn’t have been drunk when he allowed himself to be photographed because he doesn’t drink, so his judgment in allowing it to be taken was questionable.”
In his Newsnight interview, Andrew said he couldn’t recall ever meeting Ms Giuffre and claimed he was at a Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, on the night he was said to have done so.
“I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever,” he told reporter Emily Maitlis.
Andrew has yet to directly address claims the infamous photo of him and Ms Giuffre is fake – yet his remarks in the Newsnight interview seem to imply he believes that to be the case.
The Duke’s pals have reportedly alleged the picture isn’t real because he has fatter fingers in real life – with one claiming Andrew can’t even remember meeting Ms Giuffre.
Dampier struggles with these allegations.
“The picture has been around for a long time, so if it was a fake surely Andrew would have said so years ago?” he said.
“If PR people around him are putting out such nonsense about his chubby fingers, I think it insults people’s intelligence and just makes things worse.
“Andrew says he doesn’t remember meeting Virginia – which is not quite the same as categorically denying meeting her.”
The picture is said to have been taken at Epstein’s former girlfriend Ms Maxwell’s London home, with Ms Giuffre alleging she was procured by Ms Maxwell to work as a “sex slave” – a claim Ms Maxwell has strenuously denied.
She has also alleged she slept with Andrew three times, which the Duke has strongly denied.
He said in an earlier statement: “I deplore the exploitation of any human being and would not condone, participate in, or encourage any such behaviour.”
3. WILL ANDREW EVER CO-OPERATE WITH POLICE?
Epstein – who socialised with a lot of rich and powerful people, including Donald Trump and the Clintons – was in jail awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges when he killed himself.
In the weeks after the 66-year-old’s suicide, it was unclear whether Andrew had contacted police in the UK or America to try to help them with their inquiries into his former friend’s crimes.
But the FBI has now dramatically accused the Duke of not co-operating with their probe into Epstein.
Geoffrey Berman, the US lawyer for the Southern District of New York, revealed the Prince’s lack of co-operation during a dramatic press conference outside Epstein’s mansion.
He said: “The Southern District of New York and the FBI have contacted Prince Andrew’s attorneys and requested to interview Prince Andrew, and to date, Prince Andrew has provided zero co-operation.”
Dampier says Andrew must rectify the situation quickly.
“At the very least Andrew should make it clear when and where he is willing to meet police and tell them all he knows,” he said.
“It’s been said he’s worried he will be dragged in for questioning if he visits the US, so he should arrange a formal meeting in the UK at first.
“Once it’s been shown he’s co-operating it could be the first step to lifting the dark clouds hanging over him.”
It has previously been suggested that Andrew is willing to co-operate with cops – but in the wake of the latest claims, one of accuser Ms Giuffre’s lawyers blasted “no one is above the law”.
Buckingham Palace told The Sun it would “not comment on speculation”.
4. JUST HOW CLOSE WERE ANDREW AND EPSTEIN?
The Duke has said he saw Epstein “infrequently” and probably only once or twice a year.
The implication is they weren’t close, but as Dampier points out, there have been many photos of them socialising made public.
When he first met Epstein in 1999, he hosted the disgraced businessman and a model in her 20s at Balmoral castle. He’s admitted staying at several of his homes, and he is thought to have used his jet.
“To claim Andrew only met Epstein once or twice a year is clearly rubbish, and goodness knows how many more photos of them together may emerge over the coming weeks?” Dampier pointed out.
“He would be better to admit he was a friend, but it was a mistake to be so close to him.”
The pair have also been pictured on a peasant shoot at the Queen’s Sandringham estate, partying with now US President Donald Trump in 2000 and with a topless woman on a yacht in Phuket, Thailand, the following year.
All of this points to the Duke spending a lot more than “infrequent” time with Epstein, which Dampier warns could be problematic for him.
“If civil cases go ahead in the US, a lot more things will be said in court, and Andrew’s position could be untenable,” the author warns.
But he adds: “The Queen will always stand by him and will be convinced that Andrew was taken in by Epstein, just as Prince Charles was a friend of Jimmy Savile.”
In November, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Andrew was to step down from all the hundreds of charities and organisations he had served as a patron of.
5. SO WHAT DID ANDREW KNOW AND SEE?
Perhaps the most important question of all – yet one that Andrew hasn’t fully answered.
The Duke has claimed that he didn’t witness or suspect any abusive behaviour as he holidayed, partied and stayed with Epstein before the billionaire’s conviction.
He added he was “appalled” by the sex abuse claims against his former pal.
Yet some have questioned why alarm bells didn’t ring for Andrew as young women “came and went” from Epstein’s New York mansion during the Duke’s 2010 stay there.
By this point, Epstein had already served time behind bars as a sex offender.
On Saturday, embattled Andrew – who has quit royal duties for the foreseeable future – was seen riding a horse alongside a friend in Windsor – his latest attempt to weather the Epstein storm.
But despite previously admitting that his former pal’s suicide has “left many unanswered questions”, the Duke has yet to address the many that relate to him.
And Dampier warns it may be too late for him to do so now with his reputation already so badly tarnished.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
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