STANDING FIRM
Prince Andrew ‘stands by decision to give car-crash Jeffrey Epstein BBC interview’ despite backlash
PRINCE Andrew 'stands by his decision' to give the BBC interview on his links with his paedo pal Jeffrey Epstein, palace sources have claimed today.
The Duke of York was blasted for his "lack of empathy" for the disgraced millionaire's alleged victims in his car-crash interview.
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Sources close to the Queen's third child told he wanted to address the allegations head-on and did so with "honesty and humility".
Earlier today, the Queen was pictured looking stoic as she was driven to church, the day after her son's "PR disaster" chat about Epstein.
Her Majesty attended the Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park, after Prince Andrew said the Royal Family had been "supportive".
It comes hours after Prince Andrew gave an interview to BBC2 Newsnight's Emily Maitlis about his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew denied he had sex with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts in 2001 after going to Tramps nightclub in London, claiming he was at a Pizza Express in Woking with his daughter Princess Beatrice.
Ms Roberts claims she had sex with the prince three times - which he strongly denies.
PR DISASTER
The duke said the whole episode had not been damaging to the Queen, only to himself, and that the wider royal family "couldn't be more supportive".
Viewers pointed out that the royal should have made his comments while under oath.
One said: "As much as we’re laughing at the Prince Andrew interview for the car crash it was, he should be answering these questions in court under oath!"
Another wrote: "Who advised Prince Andrew to do this interview? Surely he’s just better to give a statement under oath and be done with it. Until then it will never go away.."
Ms Maitlis asked Prince Andrew if he would be willing to give a statement under oath about the allegations against him.
The biggest takeaways from the Prince Andrew interview:
- Epstein was invited to Windsor Castle as a ‘plus one’ for Ghislaine Maxwell
- Prince Andrew doesn’t regret his friendship with Epstein
- The royal regrets visiting the paedo in NYC in December 2010 and said he went to end his friendship – when the infamous photo was snapped
- The 59-year-old claims he was at a Pizza Express in Woking on the night Virginia Roberts alleges she had sex with him aged 17
- The prince claims he can’t sweat after Ms Roberts alleged he ‘sweat profusely’
- The Duke of York would testify under oath ‘if push came to shove’
- Prince Andrew described Epstein’s behaviour as ‘unbecoming’
He said: "Well I’m like everybody else and I will have to take all the legal advice that there was before I was to do that sort of thing.
"But if push came to shove and the legal advice was to do so, then I would be duty bound to do so."
And asked if the episode reflected badly on the Queen, he replied: "I don't believe it's been damaging to the Queen at all, it has to me and it's been a constant drip if you see what I mean in the background that people want to know.
The duke said the controversy had a negative affect on him: "... it's almost a mental health issue to some extent for me, in the sense that it's been nagging at my mind for a great many years."
The embattled Duke of York has faced continued scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein, who hanged himself in August while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.
Who is Virginia Roberts?
- Mum-of-three Virginia Roberts, now Virginia Giuffre, 36, has alleged that she was procured by Ghislaine Maxwell - Epstein’s ex-lover - to work as a 'sex slave'
- Ms Roberts alleges she met Ms Maxwell while working at Donald Trump's Mar-aLago resprt in Florida.
- Legal documents from a 2015 defamation case - released the day before Epstein killed himself - featured claims that Prince Andrew slept with Ms Roberts three times.
- The Duke of York strongly denies the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him.
- Giuffre says her account is '99 per cent true' but her own former lawyers have described it as 'fictionalised.'
- She claims she first met royal dad-of-two Prince Andrew on a trip to London in 2001 when she was 17 and Epstein and Maxwell were also there.
Andrew was infamously pictured with his arm around Ms Roberts at Ghislaine Maxwell's home in London in 2001.
The Duke was last pictured with Epstein in New York in 2010 after the hedge fund manager had been released from prison and was a registered sex offender.
Ms Maitlis grilled the royal on whether he had any regret or shame about his friendship with the convicted sex offender.
Andrew said: "Do I regret the fact that he has quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? Yes."
Ms Maitlis replied: "Unbecoming? He was a sex offender."
He clarified: "Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m being polite, I mean in the sense that he was a sex offender."
Public relations and crisis consultant Mark Borkowski said: "I have never seen anything so disastrous. For any students of PR that is how not to do it.
"It was like watching a man in quick sand and unfortunately, I don't think anyone would have thrown him a line to get him out."
Epstein was first jailed in 2008 for procuring an underage girl for prostitution. He got an 18-month sentence, during which he was able to go on “work release” to his office six days a week. He was released on probation after 13 months.
MOST READ IN NEWS
This July he was arrested on sex trafficking allegations. On August 10 he was found hanged at the New York Metropolitan Correctional Centre — three weeks after being found unconscious with neck injuries.
Checks were not carried out on the night in question, and CCTV appeared to have malfunctioned. Officials are investigating.
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Prince Andrew 'kicks himself' over friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein