A Categorical Denial:
You can say categorically that you don’t recall meeting Virginia Roberts, dining with her, dancing with her at or going on to have sx with her in a bedroom in a house in Belgrave.Prince Andrew has not been far from scandal for a number of years, but at the moment it has really kicked up a gear.That’s a variety of factors that have all sort of combined to make this a really dramatic escalation in Andrew’s ongoing scandals which is to begin with the release of theostumous memoir of Virginia Du Fray formerly known as Roberts who sadly died by suicide in April this year. And she’s released her memoir and it details a number of alleged sxual encounters she had with Prince Andrew. There are three in there. One she alleges happened when she was just 17 years old.
The Memoir That Sparked the Surge:-
He wasn’t mean or anything, but he got up and he thanks and walked out. And had just been abused by a member of a royal family. So about these chains, you know wasn’t chained to a sink, but these powerful people were my chains. So that is one of the factors that’s really driving the scandal at the moment. Second to that, there was a leaked email that came out, which was from Prince Andrew to Jeffrey Epstein, who is of course the convicted s*x offender. Now, the important part of this is the date that it was sent, which, you know, you may recall from that train wreck newsight interview that he gave with Emily Maitas for the BBC back in 2019 in that he that the photo that was taken of him with Jeffrey Epstein in New York in late 2010 was as a result of him flying over there to end their friendship face to face as he claimed it was the honorable thing to do. He also that they had never spoken again after that.
The Leaked Emails & the Close Ties:-
Now, this email from Prince Andrew to Jeffrey Epstein. In it, the wording is things like, “We’re in this together.” He that he was concerned for his friend. So, it indicates an intimate and close relationship still. And it also opens the door to the fact that we then don’t know how much they communicated for the years that followed. Jeffrey Epstein died in jail in 2019. So conceivably there is more communication to come and for for that reason along with the book which is obviously it’s a horrible read.
Allegations of Misuse of Security Resources:-
There’s a lot of harrowing details in there. You combine all of this together and it’s really snowballed. There are now other allegations have emerged including that Prince Andrew shortly after Virginia Duprey went public with her claims about her time with Epstein as a s*x traffic victim. It is claimed that Prince Andrew passed on her social security number and her date of birth which you know these are obviously personal details and no one has any idea how he would have accessed those that he gave them to his taxpayer funded security guard um in suggesting that he she he should dig up dirt on Virginia. So this is obviously again brings into question some unlawful behavior. These allegations are are all being investigated at the moment.
Titles Relinquished, but Not Enough?:-
The Met police says they are actively looking into these claims. So, as this is all just really snowballed and when Prince Andrew released his own statement through Buckingham Palace saying that he was going to give up the use of his Duke of York title and other titles. That was obviously hoped by the palace and senior members of the royal family, including the king, that that would stem the flow of bad and unflattering allegation around Prince Andrew that it would stop the damage that was happening to the monarchy by association. But instead, there’s been a real escalation as more leaked details and emails come forward. So what’s next for him? That remains to be seen. It really has been getting worse and worse for the prince. Think that there have now been calls from British MPs to give the king the power and authority to actually remove the prince title. Whether that happens remains to be seen. For him to actually be stripped of his Duke of York title because remember he’s released that statement saying he’s voluntarily not using it.
The Living Arrangement & Royal Lodge Dispute:-
People want to see him actually stripped of it though. Now for that to happen that’s an act of parliament which initially it was thought that the government would be very very hesitant to take that on the king wouldn’t want that to happen because it will take a long time it will tie up taxpayer funded resources etc but given how things have now escalated it’s believed that that is something that’s it’s quite a possible next step so these are the sorts of things that we’re looking at happening now there’s also been more of a squeeze on his living arrangements this has been an absolute pain point for years it’s been well documented that the king has attempted to get him evicted from the palatial 30 room royal lodge which is on the Windsor estate. That’s the crown estate. So he has an ironclad lease which will see him there for decades more. But what has emerged is that he hasn’t paid rent on that for 20 years and he doesn’t want to leave. The king actually cut off his personal funding some time ago in the hopes that maybe he would not be able to afford that. This is what’s understood is that he may not be able to afford the refurbishment costs that he needed to pay every year. But he’s managed to do that. So he’s managed to stay because he has this lease. Given the revelations about Royal Lodge, does the prime minister agree that this house needs to properly scrutinize the crown estate? So will the prime minister support a select committee inquiry so all those involved can be called for evidence, including the current occupant? So there are a number of active lines of movement happening around Prince Andrew now. And the truth is that it’s hard to know exactly where the dust will settle on it all, but the royal family must be seen to be distancing itself even further from Andrew and showing they have zero tolerance and support for the allegations that are against him.
The Role of Ex-Wife & Additional Emails:-
Do need to say at this point too that Prince Andrew has always vehemently denied all of the allegations of wrongdoing against him. He did pay a settlement to Virginia Grey back in 2022, but never admitted any wrongdoing. So that is a factor here and it’s part of the reason why he clearly has been so reluctant over the years to step back from his titles and initially from royal duties. Sarah Ferguson at the same time lost the use of her Duchess of York title. Now, that’s something she held on to despite the fact that they have actually been divorced for about 30 years, but they are very close. She’s actually one of Prince Andrew’s biggest supporters. They have an unusual living arrangement for exes, which is that she still lives in Royal Lodge with him, and they are very close. So, she also has given up use of her title ongoing. To be honest with you, her losing her title wasn’t really the big hit for her. That actually came a few weeks back as she had her own leaked email scandal involving Jeffrey Epstein and her ties to him. several charities that she’d been involved with for many, many years dropped her as a result of a leaked email which emerged and again that was dated a few weeks after she had publicly condemned Jeffrey Epstein who had been convicted of these s*x offenses. She did that she publicly condemned him and then a couple of weeks later this email which has just been leaked was sent between Sarah to Jeffrey Epstein in which she called him a supreme friend and it really was a graveling apology for the comments that she’d made publicly. obviously a terrible look and as a result she was dropped by several charities.
The Royal Family’s Internal Tension:-
Now have to say as well her spokesman at the time a few weeks ago that she had received a very threatening phone call from Jeffrey Epstein at the time which was the reason for that email but that’s just either way the fallout was swift and severe for Sarah Ferguson and that has already happened. In terms of their two children, that’s the interesting one. The princesses, Princess Beatric and Princess Eujenei, they have largely come out of this unaffected. And the truth is they they probably shouldn’t pay for the sins of the father. Of course, they are non-working royals, so there’s no real awkward questions around their future with the monarchy there. They live largely as private citizens. They have a close relationship with a lot of members of their family, which hasn’t changed over the years as the Prince Andrew scandals have sort of ebbed and flowed. And so in terms of that, don’t think there’ll be any major change for them.
What Happens Next?:-
Now, there’s been no official statements from the king or from Prince William throughout all this, but there have been many quotes from sources that claim to be close to them over the last few years, but especially in the last few weeks in the British media. So, it’s been understood for some time that Prince William wants the hardest possible line taken on his uncle. There is no love lost there at all. It’s also been that he was instrumental in pushing for more action to be taken. The Duke of York, Prince Andrew, , voluntarily gave up that the use of that title. But the truth is it was most likely just a case of jumping before being pushed. Clearly the situation was untenable and also that decision came after a very tense meeting with the king and Prince William who are to be in agreement on it all. However, it’s clear and we also know from the mood music of Prince William’s recent interview with Eugene Levy with where he talked about the change that he wanted for the monarchy. Believe that he will be having a zero tolerance, zero appearance, zero visibility with Prince Andrew approach when he becomes the monarch.
Final Thoughts:-
It seems to be the most likely outcome. You you can even just see the tension in their relationship very recently when they were at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral and they were videoed on the stairs there and Prince Andrew looks to be having a sort of a bit trying to have a bit of a laugh with his nephew and saying something to him in conversation and Prince William appears absolutely frosty. It’s a very awkward exchange and it really does seem to indicate sort of where that relationship’s at. So, it does feel like there’ll be a more dramatic change of foot when Prince William does become the king. Think stuff to do with family overwhelms me quite a bit. You know, worry or um stress around family side of things, that does overwhelm me quite a bit.