HM The Queen has summoned Prince Andrew for a meeting today at Buckingham Palace amidst allegations he had sex with an underage girl. The claims – which remain unproved – are considered so serious that the Royal Household has issued two denials and Prince Andrew will now fly back from his skiing trip in Verbier, Switzerland to deal with them.
Today’s papers are filled with additional details on the scandal, which surrounds the Prince’s relationship with the US billionaire and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The two have been pictured together on a number of occasions and this has led to one of his alleged victims to implicate Prince Andrew.
According to the Associated Press news service Buckingham Palace has stepped up efforts to defend the Prince after the claims of sexual impropriety came from an underaged girl known as Jane Doe 3. She was named today as Virginia Roberts, who has also been pictured with the Prince.
Officials “emphatically denied” that the 54-year-old Andrew had “any form of sexual contact or relationship” with a woman who claimed that she was forced to have sex with the royal in London, in New York and on a private Caribbean island when she was under the age of 18.
Buckingham Palace dismissed the claims as “false and without any foundation” telling the Sunday Express: “The Queen is very fond of Andrew and will not chastise him, but she will expect to see him soon to hear his views… A very clear denial has already been issued and Prince Andrew will be meeting senior courtiers to work out a strategy of dealing with this in the coming weeks.”
The claims, made in a filing to a Florida court last week, were submitted as part of a lengthy lawsuit against American financier Jeffrey Epstein. Victims are seeking to prove Epstein was let off lightly in his deals with US prosecutors because of lobbying from powerful friends.
Additional reporting from Associated Press
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