It appears that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's sudden royal flounce may be benefiting one specific member of the royal family a little bit more than the rest. Prince Andrew, who was so recently disgraced as he floundered to respond to allegations of sexual assault and rape, was seen in a public outing with the Queen for the first time since his disastrous television interview.
Further, it has been reported that despite having promised to assist the ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's alleged trafficking circle, Prince Andrew, in fact, has not provided a single shred of assistance.
US Attorney Geoffrey Berman told reporters that the FBI and New York prosecutors have repeatedly appealed to Andrew for help. Instead, he said, "To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation."
Attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents five of Epstein's victims, has pointed out that appealing to the press is the only option Geoffrey Berman has. "He [Berman] doesn’t have the power to subpoena Prince Andrew as part of the criminal investigation, so what else can he do except use the power of the press to come forward publicly and say: ‘You know what, Prince Andrew, you said you would fully cooperate with law enforcement and you have not done it.’"
Here's a recap in case you're a little rusty on the case. Jeffrey Epstein was accused by prosecutors of trafficking several (dozens) of minors between 2002 and 2005. The allegations center around the belief that Epstein both paid the girls to perform sexual acts on customers and also paid them for soliciting more girls and bringing them into the operation.
Jeffrey was arrested by the FBI last year. He had friendships with celebrities going back decades, and in fact Donald Trump said in 2002, "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life."
Jeffrey Epstein came under investigation in 2005 for molesting a 14-year-old girl. At the time, Jeffrey said he believed all the girls whom he had "encounters" with were 18. Somehow, he escaped a harsher sentence in that case and received only 13 months in county jail. He was sentenced by Alexander Acosta, who was then the Miami state attorney and later served under President Trump as the US secretary of labor from 2017 until 2019, when he resigned due to his involvement in the Epstein case.
Prince Andrew's role in all of this is murky, but not impossible to prove. It turns out that Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein had a well-documented friendship that spanned years. Photos of Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein from 2000 surfaced last year, amid reports that Prince Andrew assaulted Virginia Roberts Giuffre when she was underage and working for Jeffrey Epstein.
Virginia held a press conference in August 2019. She was asked about Prince Andrew, and she replied, "He knows exactly what he's done, and I hope he comes clean about it." She followed up her conference with a televised interview in September.
In the interview, Virginia referred to Andrew as "an abuser." She also stated that Prince Andrew abused her three times.
Andrew followed Virginia's interview with one of his own, and by all accounts, it was an unmitigated disaster. Buckingham Palace also issued a statement that read, "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."
Part of the reason why Prince Andrew's interview was received so poorly is that he pointedly said that he did not regret his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, and he also failed to offer any shred of sympathy or even emotion for the victims of Epstein's sordid trafficking circle.
A few days later, Prince Andrew announced he was stepping down from royal life.
"It has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support.
"Therefore, I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, and she has given her permission."
His statement continued: "I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein. His suicide has left many unanswered questions, particularly for his victims, and I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure. I can only hope that, in time, they will be able to rebuild their lives. Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required."
Later that year, Virginia responded with yet another televised interview. She stated, "The people on the inside are going to keep coming up with these ridiculous excuses like his arm was elongated, or the photo was doctored, or he came to New York to break up with Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, come on. I'm calling BS on this because that's what it is. He knows what happened. I know what happened, and there's only one of us telling the truth, and I know that's me."
Virginia also appealed to the British public to be on her side. She said, "I implore the people in the U.K. to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being OK. This is not some sordid sex story. This is a story of being trafficked."
Amid of all this personal drama for Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and denied bail. Countless women continued to come forward with their own allegations and stories of abuse. Then Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019, with suicide as the apparent cause of death.
Lisa Bloom is now calling on Prince Andrew to "do the right thing" and speak to investigators in the US. She told the BBC: "It is time for anyone with information to come forward and answer questions. Prince Andrew himself is accused of sexual misconduct and he also spent a great deal of time with Jeffrey Epstein. So it’s time to stop playing games and to come forward to do the right thing and answer questions."
Meanwhile, Prince Andrew recently stepped out with Queen Elizabeth in what is being interpreted as a huge show of support by the monarch. The royal family is definitely used to harnessing a media story to try to make sure it's told the way they want it to be, and it appears that could be exactly what's going on here.
