Queen summons Epstein-linked Prince Andrew over latest bombshells
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles reportedly summoned the Duke of York to her Sandringham Estate to discuss 'family matters'
Embattled Prince Andrew, a longtime friend of now-deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was called to face his royal mother and brother after his scandal-plagued week of law enforcement bombshells in the U.S. and the U.K., according to reports.
Queen Elizabeth II and her eldest son, Prince Charles, summoned the Duke of York to her Sandringham Estate to discuss "family matters," according to the British tabloid The Sun. The news came in the wake of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman's shocking announcement that federal investigators are hoping to interview Andrew, who has "provided zero cooperation."
A Royal communications spokesperson declined FOX Business' request for comment.
Andrew had previously suggested he would be willing to cooperate with the investigation. Within 24 hours of Berman's revelation, British Metropolitan Police Service, known as the Met or Scotland Yard and is responsible for providing protection to the royal family, confirmed to the newspaper they had re-opened their investigation into the embattled royal.
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"There has been a renewed focus on Mr. Epstein's friends and associates which could potentially instigate further criminal and/or civil investigations against these individuals," the British police agency confirmed to The Sun. As a result, a "pre-investigation ... could be re-opened in light of the current revelations and further victims coming forward."
The 59-year-old, who is eighth in line for the throne, announced last November he would be stepping "back from public duties for the foreseeable future," with the permission from the queen.
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"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," he wrote. "I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein."
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Epstein and Andrew were reportedly friends for more than a decade, but their relationship reportedly soured after their photograph was blasted on the front page of the New York Post in February 2011.
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The duke has also been linked to one of Epstein's alleged sex slaves, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who said she was forced to have sex with him in March 2001, when she was only 17.
"Ghislaine tells me that I have to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey and that made me sick," she told BBC's "Panorama during the December interview, later adding: "Well there was a bath and it started there and then it led into the bedroom and it didn't last very long, the whole, entire procedure. It was disgusting. He wasn't mean or anything but he got up and said, 'Thanks.' "
Andrew has repeatedly denied the allegations.
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Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking of a minor and conspiracy, but his criminal case was dismissed weeks later when he was found dead in his federal jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.
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Medical examiners determined he had committed suicide by hanging, but forensic experts and federal investigators are still probing many of the circumstances.