Prince Andrew is reportedly facing being told he can’t indulge in one of his royal hobbies amid new revelations over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Prince Andrew could be banned from ‘fun activities’ on royal estates after new bombshell claims about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The disgraced Duke of York has found himself at the centre of a new storm after it emerged he told Epstein they were “in this together” in an email sent after he claimed to have cut contact with the paedophile. The email was sent on February 28, 2011 – the day after the well-known photograph of the duke with Virginia Giuffre was published. Andrew told BBC Newsnight in an infamous interview that he broke off his friendship with Epstein in December 2010.
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Now a source has told the Daily Mail that as a result, an option being discussed is having the disgraced Duke banned from hosting shooting parties on royal estates such as Balmoral and Sandringham.
Andrew is known to host such events, with one taking place in Windsor in January 2024, just days after court documents relating to Epstein had been released.
The source said: “It might help concentrate his mind if things he has taken for granted for a very long time, such as shooting with his mates and having the run of a royal home, were suddenly not available.”
It comes as the emergence of the email suggests Andrew lied when he claimed in 2019 that he cut contact with Epstein in 2010. In the email, Andrew appears to tell Epstein: “I’m just as concerned for you! Don’t worry about me! It would seem we are in this together and will have to rise above it. Otherwise, keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!”
Andrew told Emily Maitlis in his BBC Newsnight interview that he had stopped all contact with Epstein after they were pictured together in New York’s Central Park in December 2010.
He told Newsnight: “By mutual agreement, during that walk in the park, we decided we would part company and I left, I think it was the next day.
“To this day, I never had any contact with him from that day forward.” But the email was sent three months after the photo was taken.
The picture of Andrew with his arm around the bare waist of a 17-year-old Ms Giuffre was taken at the London home of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in jail in the US after being convicted in 2021 of trafficking underage girls for sex with Epstein.
Ms Giuffre claimed she was sexually abused by Epstein for four years and that she was introduced to Andrew during a six-week trip to Europe.
She alleged that having trafficked her to London, Epstein forced her to have sex with Andrew, which the Duke has always vehemently denied. He paid Ms Giuffre a reported £12million in an out of court settlement in 2022. She died by suicide, aged 41, in April.
Andrew was last seen in public last month alongside his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York at the funeral of the Duchess of Kent last month, where tried to engage in conversation with his nephew, Prince William.
However, sources have signalled that the King wants to keep the Yorks at arm’s length after it also recently emerged that Fergie had kept in contact with Epstein after publicly denouncing him in 2011 – and that they will not be welcome at the royals’ traditional Christmas celebrations at Sandringham.
Andrew stayed away last Christmas after his links to an alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, emerged weeks before. A source said: “You can’t sack someone from being your brother. But this year, if the duke and duchess were both to be as honourable [as last year], it would be very much for the best.” The Duke of York’s office has been contacted for comment.
