Buckingham Palace has released not one, but two statements, “emphatically denying” accusations that Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, was involved in a sex scandal.
Since the scandal broke, the Palace has released a second official statement that reads: “It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”
The denial follows claims made by Virginia Roberts, 30, one of the litigants in a Florida lawsuit against the American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, 61. Virginia, who lives in Australia, was allegedly held as a “sex slave” by Andrew’s billionaire friend and convicted sex offender while underage.
Amongst her shocking accusations, Virginia claims she was paid $15,000 by Epstein to sleep with the Prince, and that she was groomed and coerced by Epstein into sleeping with the Prince on three separate occasions.
She alleges that it was part of her role as a “sex slave” to the American mogul and that she was underage at the time the acts occurred.
A palace spokesperson said in the first official statement that: “This relates to long-standing and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which The Duke of York is not a party. As such we would not comment on the detail.
“However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.”
Virginia told the Daily Mail that she was first introduced to Epstein by Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of disgraced media mogul Robert Maxwell. Virginia alleges that Ghislaine acted as Epstein’s madame. However, Ghislaine Maxwell has categorically denied the claims that she acted as a “madam” to Epstein
“She said she worked for a very wealthy gentleman called Jeffrey Epstein who was looking for a travelling masseuse and I’d get training and be paid large amounts of money,” Virginia said.
“Jeffrey said he wanted to be my mentor. I felt that he and Ghislaine really cared for me. We’d do family things, like watch Sex And The City and eat popcorn.
“But it was a sick family. I was a paedophile’s top girl, being trained up for a British Prince. He trained me to do whatever a man wanted. I was worried, but I would do anything to keep Jeffrey happy and keep my place as his No. 1 girl.”
The Prince has reportedly cut short his skiing holiday in Switzerland with his daughter Princess Eugenie and her friend – Prince Harry’s ex Cressida Bonas – to fly home for an urgent summit with his mother, Queen Elizabeth.
Although it may seem highly unusual for the Palace to give any credence to such scandalous accusations, a royal aide told the Mail Online that: “The fact that they have taken such an unprecedented step is because of the false claims, which are without any foundation, being made about the Duke.
“As has been noted, the Duke is not a party to the civil case in America. Newspapers have reported details of extremely serious allegations contained in papers that have been lodged with the court to which the Duke of York has no right of response. It therefore became essential there was a swift and categorical response to those allegations.”
Prince Andrew’s connections to the American finance mogul have previously seen him in hot water. In 2011 the New York Post reported that he was seen celebrating with the billionaire upon his release from prison, in his New York apartment. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to a charge of soliciting prostitution and was sentenced to 13 months in prison.
Prince Andrew was forced to step down from his role as Britain’s trade envoy to the US when it emerged that his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York had been bailed out by the disgraced financier who supplied her with $28,000 after she got into debt.
It looks like the new accusations are unlikely to go away any time soon, though: “I’m not going to be bullied back into silence,” Virginia said in a statement provided to The Guardian by her lawyers. “I am going to name every guy who deserves to be named when I go to court.”
