A royal author has extraordinarily claimed the paedophile financier planned to silence the ex-Yorks, and that the plans were only scuppered when he died in prison
Jeffrey Epstein explored hiring an ex-SAS hitman to assassinate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson in a desperate bid to silence the couple, it has been claimed.
Royal author and historian Andrew Lownie has claimed the paedophile financier had become increasingly paranoid as he awaited trial for federal sex trafficking charges in 2019. Before he died by suicide in prison, he allegedly “spoke to a hitman” who had served as a sniper in Britain’s elite Special Air Service regiment and confessed he wanted the two Yorks dead, fearing they could spill his secrets.
Mr Lownie, who wrote the book ‘Entitled’ about the couple, claimed “reliable sources” had revealed Epstein made the move as he became “very nervous” before his death.
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Speaking to the Daily Beast podcast, Mr Lownie said Epstein had “wanted to remove” the pair, with whom he had shared a close relationship before his death. The royal author added: “He spoke to a hitman who was a former member of the British SAS and said he wanted the Yorks dead.
“He wanted to remove them. I’ve been told this by two reliable sources, one in Paris and a former FBI agent in Florida, and I can believe it’s true.
“Epstein said all sorts of things, and you can’t always believe what he said. I don’t know how far he got with the plans. But I think he was very nervous before he died. It’s extraordinary and like a scene from The Day of the Jackal — but nothing about this saga is normal.”
Epstein died by suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on August 10, 2019, before his victims were able to see justice done.
The increasingly nervous paedophile had feared he would be the victim of a Palace assassination plot before he died, Mr Lownie added. He claimed his death had saved the former Duke and Duchess, who would have been murdered for knowing “too much” due to their relationship.
He added: “Jeffrey became paranoid the Palace would kill him. If Jeffrey hadn’t died, Andrew and Fergie would have been murdered. They knew too much.”
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor and Ms Ferguson have suffered a significant fall from grace due to their association with Epstein, having had their royal stylings revoked due to fallout from repeated revelations about their links to the disgraced financier. Former Prince Andrew was alleged to have had sex with Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein trafficking victim, when she was 17.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, who has always denied the allegations, reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022 which included no admission of wrongdoing.
Leaked emails showed that Ms Ferguson had once called Epstein a “supreme friend” after condemning him in 2011, although her representatives have argued she was intending to head off any potential lawsuits. She is now reportedly poised to give a tell-all interview or write a book about her experience as she and Mr Mountbatten-Windsor are kicked out of Royal Lodge.
