Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images; Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan
Prince Andrew is opening up about his links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein for the first time.
In a must-see interview recorded inside the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, the Duke of York talks at length about his involvement with the 66-year-old millionaire, who died by suicide in jail in New York City in August while awaiting trial on multiple sex charges.
The world exclusive — described by BBC Newsnight anchor Emily Maitlis as a “no holds barred interview — no questions vetted” — will be broadcast on BBC Two at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday. It is not yet known whether there are plans to air the interview in the U.S., but clips will be available on the BBC website and social media pages.
In 2015, the Prince, 59, — an uncle to Prince William and Prince Harry, and younger brother of Prince Charles — was named in court papers by Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre), who alleges that she was forced to have sex with the royal three times between 1999 and 2002, in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned. She claims her first experience with Prince Andrew took place when she was 17.
On September 20, Giuffre doubled down on her claims, describing the Duke as “an abuser” and “a participant” in her sexual abuse, during an interview with Savannah Guthrie for NBC’s Dateline.
In reply to the NBC interview, a Buckingham Palace statement “emphatically denied” the Duke had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts.”
It added, “Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”
In a second case, former student Johanna Sjoberg also alleges that Prince Andrew touched her breast while they sat on a couch in Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2001.
The claims — described by Buckingham Palace as “categorically untrue” — appear in documents for a 2015 defamation suit against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who is alleged to have conspired to groom underage girls for sex with Epstein.
“I just remember someone suggesting a photo, and they told us to go get on the couch,” Sjoberg said in the court documents.
“And so Andrew and Virginia sat on the couch, and they put the puppet, the puppet on her lap.
“And so then I sat on Andrew’s lap, and I believe on my own volition, and they took the puppet’s hands and put it on Virginia’s breast, and so Andrew put his on mine.”
In October this year, Giuffre and two other Epstein survivors were honored in PEOPLE’s annual Women Changing the World edition.
“I started screaming, ‘No way. He’s arrested,'” Giuffre told PEOPLE about the moment she learned of Epstein’s arrest. “Tears of joy [were] streaming down my face
SOURCE
https://people.com/royals/prince-andrew-gives-no-holds-barred-interview-about-his-ties-to-jeffrey-epstein/
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