The British Royal Family are famously tight-lipped when it comes to their affairs, this we all know. With that in mind, it’s hardly a surprise that no official comment has been made in the wake of the release of the latest batch of Epstein files.
The Department of Justice last week permitted some 3.5 million documents connected with disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to enter the public sphere. As speculated beforehand, a large number of high-profile individuals are named in them, including former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Andrew has been associated with Epstein for years now, and his association was enough to see him stripped of rank and virtually all his titles. Of late, he’s been living in seclusion, having quite literally been kicked out of his residence in Windsor, U.K, and forced to relocate to Norfolk.
At the time of writing, no one has been charged as a result of their inclusion in the Epstein files, while it’s been stressed repeatedly that a celebrity’s name appearing in emails or texts, or their face in pictures or videos, isn’t proof of wrongdoing.
Of course, the court of public opinion has its own, less subtle take, and speculation has ran rampant since the DOJ released the batch of documents on January 30.
As stated above, the former prince Andrew’s involvement with Epstein has been public knowledge for some time.
In an attempt to defend himself against accusations, he agreed to do an interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019, succeeding only in damaging his initial claims that he had broken off contact with Epstein after the latter was convicted of Solicitation of Prostitution and Solicitation of Prostitution from a Minor in 2008.
In the wake of that car-crash interview, Andrew immediately withdrew from public life, his reputation in tatters.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Andrew featured prominently in the new Epstein files released last Friday. His name reportedly appears “several hundred times”.
Just what the Royal Family truly thinks about Andrew’s conduct will surely remain a closely-guarded secret. It looks very much like King Charles has done his utmost to distance the monarchy from his brother, even if no official comment on Andrew’s dealings has ever been forthcoming.
Andrew’s other brother, Prince Edward, however, gave what might be considered the closest thing to a statement the public have had so far.
Faced with reporters outside the World Governments Summit in the United Arab Emirates, Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh was asked: “How are you coping?”
The question was a clearly a reference to the release of the Epstein files – and Andrew’s inclusion – and seemed to catch the prince off guard.
“Well, with the best will in the world, I’m not sure this is the audience that is probably the least bit interested in that,” he replied.
“They all came here to listen to education, solving the future, but no, I think it’s all really important always to remember the victims and who are the victims in all this?
“A lot of victims in this.”
Andrew has repeatedly and categorically denied committing any crimes or engaging in sexual misconduct.
The former prince previously stated he was willing to help law enforcement in their efforts if called upon to do so, though US prosecutors later claimed he provided “zero cooperation” during their active investigations.
What do you make of Andrew’s association with Epstein? Let us know in the comments.
