Prince Andrew was confronted with receiving a summons from Jeffrey Epstein at BUCKINGHAM PALACE, bombshell documents reveal: Royal will be evicted from his mansion over latest scandal
Prince Andrew was about to be subpoenaed after being named as a potential witness in the defamation trial of 62-year-old Ghislaine Maxwell, whose full address is Buckingham Palace.
The list of potential witnesses was included in the latest set of documents released Thursday evening.
The documents were particularly direct, claiming that the prince was “aware of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein's sexual conduct and interactions with underage minors, including Virginia Giuffre.”
Prince Andrew denies all claims of wrongdoing.
Yet the documents in the 24-page release suggested there were plans to subpoena Prince Andrew's travel records to locate him to a specific place in time.
As part of what would have been a massive amount of evidence as Giuffre's lawyers prepared for trial, they recommended obtaining “all documents and information relating to Prince Andrew's travels, including to New York City and the Caribbean between 1999 and 2002.'
Jeffrey Epstein had homes in both New York City and a private island in the Caribbean near St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Prince Andrew was identified as a potential witness in the defamation trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, with any subpoena issued to him being addressed to Buckingham Palace. The prince is pictured walking with Jeffrey Epstein in New York's Central Park in 2011
The court papers list Buckingham Palace as the address where Prince Andrew is said to have received a summons
Giuffre said she had sexual encounters with the royal family when she was 17. The 63-year-old Duke of York, who has vehemently and repeatedly denied all allegations against him, settled the lawsuit in 2022, claiming never to have met Giuffre.
The court documents now being released are related to the 2015 lawsuit Giuffre filed against Maxwell.
Thousands of pages of documents in that lawsuit had previously been made public, but some parts were blacked out due to privacy concerns.
Andrew's association with Epstein and claims that he slept with Giuffre are not new, but her claim that he took part in an “orgy” with “other underage girls” at Epstein's home in the US Virgin Islands is among the most serious new allegations.
The palace has not commented on the accusation, citing its policy of not commenting on non-working royals. Andrew resigned from office in 2019 after his association with Epstein was raised in the wake of the pedophile's death.
A 2019 investigation into Epstein's network put Andrew in the crosshairs, but prosecutors say he was uncooperative and their work went nowhere.
The Duke of York, pictured here with Virginia Giuffre, center, and Ghislaine Maxwell, right, has denied any wrongdoing in his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Andrew has lived in the 30-room Royal Lodge since 2003 but will be 'forced out' after documents relating to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein detailing allegations of sexual assault 'crystallise' King Charles' determination to act
U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska ordered these redactions to be withdrawn last month, especially because the names in the documents had already been made public through reporting or other legal proceedings.
They didn't offer much new insight into individuals in Epstein and Maxwell's world or the sexual abuse they allegedly committed.
One of the more interesting documents released Wednesday was the May 2016 deposition of Johanna Sjoberg, who worked as a masseuse in Epstein's household.
Sjoberg said she once met Michael Jackson at Epstein's Palm Beach, Florida, home, but that nothing untoward happened to the late pop icon.
Epstein also had homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands.
She also described a trip to New York in April 2001, during which she said Prince Andrew touched her breast as they posed for a photo at Epstein's Manhattan mansion.
It's a new setback for the late queen's second son, who just ten days ago walked to church with the king and the rest of the royal family on Christmas Day, symbolizing his gradual rehabilitation within the monarchy after his public appearance at his brother's coronation in his garter robes in May.
Andrew at Sandringham on Christmas Day 2023. He is said to have avoided questions from prosecutors in 2019 despite publicly promising to help with the Epstein investigation
Prince Andrew and King Charles III speak after a vigil in memory of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in September 2022
It could spell the end of his bid to rejoin the royal fold, with well-placed sources telling the Mail that while the court's claims were not a surprise, they will have served to strengthen King Charles' determination to to solve, to 'crystallize' the 'Andrew problem'. Decisive.
Plans were already in the works to evict him from Royal Lodge, his 10-bedroom Windsor home since 2003, and move him to a smaller home in line with his 'demoted' status.
The recently released court documents are believed to have strengthened the king's decision that Andrew will never be allowed to resume royal duties.
Andrew is mentioned more than 70 times in nearly 1,000 pages of interviews and transcripts released in the US in connection with a 2015 defamation case brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed for sex trafficking young girls for Epstein.
The names of more than 170 people who were Epstein's associates, friends or victims are being made public by a judge's order last month, including high-profile figures such as former US President Bill Clinton.
Prince Andrew pictured in the background alongside the rest of the royal family as they attended the traditional Christmas Day service at the Sandringham estate last month
Giuffre has claimed that she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 and a minor under US law, at Maxwell's house in London, at Epstein's house in New York and during an orgy with Epstein at the Caribbean island.
She was questioned about the whereabouts of the famous photo of her with the Duke, who has his arm around her, with Maxwell grinning in the background.
Giuffre added that it may have been in storage boxes “full of Nerf guns, my kids' toys, photos” at her mother and father-in-law's home in Sydney, Australia.
She said she gave the photo to the FBI in 2011 but last saw it before packing her home to emigrate to Australia from Colorado.
Among the documents appears to be an email sent by Maxwell, in which she expresses her fear that she would be questioned about her own relationship with Andrew.
It reads: 'I have already suffered such a terrible and painful loss in the last few days that I can't even see what life after press hell is even like – statements that don't cover everything just lead to more questions… What is my relationship with Clinton? Andreas on and on.'
In Maxwell's videotaped statement in 2016, she claimed she could only remember one time the Duke had visited Jeffrey Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands.