Plans were already in train to evict him from Royal Lodge, his ten-bedroom Windsor home since 2003, and move him to a smaller residence in keeping with his ‘downgraded’ status.
Prince Andrew will NEVER return to the royal fold and will be ‘forced out’ of the Royal Lodge after documents relating to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein detailing sexual assault allegations ‘crystallise’ King Charles’s determination to act
DAILY MAIL
Andrew will never return to the royal fold after the release of documents detailing sexual assault allegations, insiders said last night.
Papers released by a New York court in the early hours of yesterday thrust the Duke of York’s relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein back into the spotlight with claims that the prince committed ‘acts of sexual abuse’ and took part in an ‘underage orgy’.
Andrew has vehemently and repeatedly denied all allegations against him. Yesterday well-placed sources told the Mail that while the court claims were not a surprise, they will have served to ‘crystallise’ King Charles’s determination to solve the ‘Andrew problem’ decisively.
Plans were already in train to evict him from Royal Lodge, his ten-bedroom Windsor home since 2003, and move him to a smaller residence in keeping with his ‘downgraded’ status.
The newly released court documents are believed to have strengthened the King’s resolve that Andrew will never be allowed to resume royal duties.
A source said: ‘When it comes to any public role for his brother, there is no way back.
‘There has always been an agreement that Andrew would be permitted to attend private and family events, as is his right. But not public or official ones. That has not changed.’
Andrew has refused requests by Charles to move into smaller Frogmore Cottage, which had belonged to Harry and Meghan before they left for the US.
It is now understood the King will redouble his efforts to move his brother in the coming months.
A source said: ‘When it comes to family, it is difficult. But this association is just never going to go away. And that means he [Andrew] has to.’
The newly unsealed documents relate to a Manhattan defamation case brought in 2015 by the duke’s accuser Virginia Giuffre, nee Roberts, against Ghislaine Maxwell, who acted as Epstein’s ‘madame’.
Andrew, who has spent years trying to rebuild his shattered public image, is mentioned 69 times in the new files, along with dozens of high-profile associates of the late paedophile financier.
They include a deposition from Jane Doe 3 – who was later identified as Ms Giuffre – who claims she was forced to have sex with the duke on three occasions, including when she was 17.
She claims Epstein ordered she ‘give the prince whatever he demanded’, including ‘an orgy with numerous other underaged girls’ on the financier’s Caribbean island Little Saint James.
She alleged that British socialite Maxwell, the daughter of Robert Maxwell, ‘facilitated Prince Andrew’s acts of sexual abuse by acting as a ‘madame’ for Epstein’.
In a further blow to Andrew, the documents from the case are expected to be released on a ‘rolling basis’, meaning he could potentially face days of embarrassing headlines about his friendship with Epstein.
Among yesterday’s explosive court documents are claims that:
- Andrew put his ‘hand on the boobs’ of another alleged Epstein victim;
- Money was offered to disprove the claim that Professor Stephen Hawking ‘participated in an underage orgy’;
- Epstein once claimed former US president Bill Clinton ‘likes them young’;
- Paedophile Michael Jackson was among the guests at Epstein’s private island;
- Magician David Copperfield asked one alleged victim if she knew girls were being paid to procure others.
Mr Copperfield denies all allegations of wrongdoing, while a spokesman for Mr Clinton reiterated a previous statement that he knew nothing of Epstein’s ‘terrible crimes’ during their past friendship.
Following the release of the documents, Ms Giuffre triumphantly posted to X, formerly Twitter, noting that so many people were downloading the new court files that the system had crashed. She wrote: ‘We broke the website.’
Andrew was recently said to have been ‘at a loss, totally tormented’ by the prospect of the scandal being dragged up again.
The duke stepped down as a working royal in 2019 after his ‘car crash’ Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, in which he was ridiculed for denying Ms Guiffre’s claims the pair had sex in London when she was 17 by saying he had been at Pizza Express in Woking on the night in question.
In 2021 Andrew then faced a sexual assault lawsuit brought against him in New York by Ms Giuffre, now a mother-of-three living in Australia. In February 2022, he settled the case, paying her a reported £10 million, while denying all her claims and maintaining he did not remember ever meeting her.
His mother the late Queen had, by that point, already stripped him of his royal patronages and military titles. But there has been speculation that recent appearances at major public events, such as the late Queen’s platinum jubilee and at church with the Royal Family on Christmas Day, could signal a thawing on that position.
However, sources have suggested this is not the case.
One source, who has dealt with Andrew extensively, said: ‘The Palace can’t ignore it, this isn’t going away. He paid that vast amount of money to Virginia Roberts. If he thought the money was going to make it go away, it’s had the opposite effect. It’s given it legs. People think ‘no smoke without fire’.’
They added: ‘This young woman, supposedly powerless, has had the last laugh. She’s got his money and found a way to publicly name and shame him through legal court documents he has no redress against once again.
