Royals: Prince Andrew ‘sacked after Charles stepped in’ over Jeffrey Epstein controversy

Charles ‘lobbied intensely’ for the Queen to strip his brother of his duties over the Epstein scandal.

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, the Queen and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, with other members of the Royal family during the Trooping of The Colour, the Queen's annual birthday parade, in June.

Prince Charles reportedly “lobbied intensely” for the Queen to strip his brother Prince Andrew of his duties, in the wake of the controversy over his friendship with billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“Charles was very involved in the decision as heir to the throne. He knew action had to be taken. The Duke knew he couldn’t fight any more. His royal career is over,” a senior Palace source told The Sun.

READ MORE: Prince Andrew attempts to sidestep the Queen’s edict that he step down from royal duties

Prince Andrew stood aside from royal duties on Thursday “for the foreseeable future’’ and agreed to help any investigations into Epstein.

In a statement issued by Buckingham Palace on Thursday, the Duke of York said the Queen agreed to his request to step back from public duties, following a ­furore triggered by an interview he gave to the BBC.

Prince Andrew leaves his home in Windsor, England, on Thursday after announcing he was pulling out of public duties.

“It has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein have become a major disruption to my family’s work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support­,” he said. “Therefore I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future and she has given her ­permission.’’

A new poll, conducted for The Times, has found only one person in 16 people believes that the Duke of York has been telling the truth about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The survey of 1,600 adults carried out by YouGov for The Times showed that 51 per cent of people thought he was not telling the truth.

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The news that Andrew, 59, is willing to co-operate with authorities is a significant step forward for Epstein’s victims in the US, who say the prince visited Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and his private island in the Caribbean and flew on his private jet.

They are pursuing a civil claim after Epstein committed suicide in August in his Manhattan cell while facing 45 years’ jail for trafficking under-age girls.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre says she was trafficked by Epstein and had sex with Andrew on three occasions.

Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts, then 17, in 2001.

After travelling to New York in 2010 to tell Epstein he was termin­ating their friendship — during a four-day visit that included a ­dinner party — Andrew secured a £15,000 payment from the ­financier to help him pay off former wife Sarah Ferguson’s debts.

After a parent complained to police in 2005 that Epstein had sexually abused her 14-year-old daughter, Epstein was convicted of procuring an under-age girl for prostitution by a Florida state court in 2008. In a deal with state prosecutor Alex Acosta, he served only 13 months in custody and was allowe­d to leave jail to work.

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall attend a reception during their visit to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in Waitangi, New Zealand.

He was rearrested on federal child sex trafficking charges in New York in July. Mr Acosta was forced to resign as Donald Trump’s secretary of ­labour.

Andrew’s withdrawal from public life is an acknowledgement that the Epstein scandal is tainting the royal family and overshadowing the good work being conduct­ed by other members.

Andrew said he continued to “unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Epstein’’.

“His suicide has left many unanswered­ questions particularly for his victims and I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure,” he said. “I can only hope that in time they will be able to rebuild their lives.’’

Read Prince Andrew’s full statement here

He said he was “willing to help any appropriate law-enforcement agency with their investigations’’.

The furore over Andrew’s associa­tion with Epstein was ignited on Saturday night after a catastrophic television interview in which he failed to show sympathy for Epstein’s victims, displayed an insensitive lack of regret about his friendship, and was unable to remember­ anything of Epstein sex slave Virginia Roberts Giuffre or the photograph of the two of them together taken in 2001.

In the interview, Andrew said he had no recollection of ever meeting Ms Giuffre, who lives in Australia, and gave an alibi for one time she claims they had sex. It emerged on Thursday night that one of Andrew’s staff had previously written to The Times saying Andre­w had been friends with Epstei­n since the early 1990s, at odds with his claim that he first met him in 1999 as the “plus one’’ of his friend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

In past days, scores of sponsors and companies have deserted ­Andrew’s Pitch@Palace initiative and he was forced to cancel a tour of flood-ravaged areas in the north of England on Tuesday.

Illustration: Johannes Leak