PRINCE Andrew could be reportedly be thrown back into the spotlight over an investigation about bullying of staff following claims made about Meghan Markle.
The Duke has been under pressure for years over his links to US financier and disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, as well as reports he “regularly” shouted at staff and made them cry.
What has Prince Andrew been accused of?
US court papers have alleged the Duke of York touched a woman while on his lap as she played with a Spitting Image puppet of him.
And almost 2,000 pages of a lawsuit were released in a defamation case involving Virginia Giuffre, who in 2015 claimed Prince Andrew slept with her three times, and Epstein’s ex-lover Ghislaine Maxwell.
He was accused of having a sexual encounter with her when she was 17 in London and New York and a year later at a party on Epstein’s private island in the Virgin Islands.
Another document describes an alleged sexual encounter between Ms Giuffre, now 35, and Andrew in a bathtub.
The Duke of York was pictured with his arm around the then 17-year-old’s waist at the home of Maxwell in London in 2001 – but the Prince strongly denies the claims.
All the allegations about Prince Andrew were struck from the court record in 2015.
They were described by the judge as being “immaterial and impertinent”.
Buckingham Palace has been under fire this week for adopting an “uneven playing field” when it came to probing bullying allegations against the Duchess of Sussex, after keeping “dead silent” about the accusations facing Andrew.
Omid Scobie, the author of Finding Freedom, said the Palace appears to have double standards when it comes to internal investigations as it failed to investigate the Duke of York’s friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The royal biographer told Good Morning Britain the Queen was right to address bullying claims made against the Duchess of Sussex, but if internal investigations are taken, they “need to happen across the board”.
It is also believed that there were several staff who had sufficient cause for complaint after being bullied by Andrew during his time at the Palace.
The Palace will be duty bound to investigate if they come forward, the Mail on Sunday reports.
“People were shouted at regularly by the Duke of York and there would be crying in the corridors,” said a source.
“These staff members are not pushovers either, and they put up with an awful lot so it had to be very bad to have affected them in this way. He can be a very difficult person.
How is Prince Andrew linked to Jeffrey Epstein?
The Duke of York said he first met Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire financier, in 1999 with the now dead banker once describing him as his “best friend.”
That was also the year the UK press reported on the pair’s friendship.
The pair are thought to have flown together on Epstein’s private jet to the US Virgin Islands.
And in June 2000, Epstein and his Brit “madam” ex, Ghislaine Maxwell were both guests at a party hosted by the Queen at Windsor Castle.
Prince Andrew also became close with Maxwell – pictured together that same year at a Halloween party hosted by Heidi Klum in New York.
Just over a month later, in December 2000, the then 40-year-old prince, threw Ms Maxwell a surprise birthday party at Sandringham, with Epstein among the guests.
What did the Newsnight interview reveal?
The Duke gave his first interview about the sorry saga to Emily Maitlis on Newsnight.
During the interview the royal revealed that Epstein was invited to Windsor Castle as a “plus one” for Ghislaine Maxwell and that he didn’t regret his friendship with the paedophile.
However the Duke denied he had thrown a “birthday party” for Maxwell claiming it was “just a shooting weekend”.
He did say that he regrets visiting the sex offender in New York in December 2010 and said he went to end his friendship – when the infamous photo was snapped.
But added that he only went on the visit to tell Epstein that the pair could no longer stay in contact and that he only stayed at his Manhattan home because it was “a convenient place to stay”.
Andrew also claims he was at a Pizza Express in Woking on the night Virginia Roberts, now Giuffre, alleges she had sex with him aged 17 and that he can’t sweat after she alleged he “sweated profusely”.
The Duke of York added he would testify under oath “if push came to shove” and described Epstein’s behaviour as “unbecoming”.
Following his TV appearance the royal was roundly criticised with some branding it a “car crash”.
What did the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary reveal?
The Dispatches programme The Prince and the Paedophile examined the relationship between Prince Andrew and Epstein.
Reporter Cathy Newman looked at Epstein’s British connections from Prince Andrew to Ghislaine Maxwell.
Private investigator Mike Fisten has already claimed that Epstein had 13 telephone numbers to contact the Queen’s second son on.
A telephone contact book was found in Epstein’s Palm Beach home that is said to have included a line for the Duke of York at Buckingham Palace.
Who is Virginia Roberts and what has she said about Prince Andrew?
Virginia Giuffre, formerly Roberts, claims she was forced to have sex with the Duke when she was 17.
She previously alleged in court papers that she had sex with Andrew “three times, including one orgy” in London, at Epstein’s home, and on his private “paedo” island in the Caribbean.
She told press Prince Andrew “knows what he’s done.”
Prince Andrew has previously strenuously denied her claim he had sex with her.
Who is Johanna Sjoberg and what has she said about Prince Andrew?
Johanna Sjoberg alleges Prince Andrew touched her breast in 2001 at the New York home of his pal Jeffrey Epstein, according to court papers.
In the documents Sjoberg said: “I just remember someone suggesting a photo, and they told us to go get on the couch. And so Andrew and Virginia Giuffre (formerly Roberts) sat on the couch, and they put the puppet, the puppet on her lap.
“And so then I sat on Andrew’s lap, and I believe on my own volition, and they took the puppet’s hands and put it on Virginia’s breast, and so Andrew put his on mine,” she said, saying it was done in a “joking manner”.
What has Courtney Love claimed?
Courtney Love has alleged Prince Andrew once tried to seduce her — amid claims that they were introduced through paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The royal turned up at the star’s house at 1am “looking for sex”, shortly after being introduced to the disgraced financier.
While they did not sleep together, Courtney — widow of Nirvana rocker Kurt Cobain — has told friends Andrew was “very flirtatious”.
The 55-year-old singer was among those recently named in Epstein’s infamous black book.
What has Prince Andrew said about the allegations?
The Prince has strenuously denied all allegations brought against him.
Buckingham Palace strongly denied the allegation in 2015 saying “any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors” by the Duke was “categorically untrue”.
It has consistently denied the allegations, reinforcing that statement in 2019 by saying “Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.
“It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”
Prince Andrew added: “At no stage during the limited time I spent with [Epstein] did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.”
All the allegations about Prince Andrew were struck from the court record in 2015.
They were described by the judge as being “immaterial and impertinent”.
Andrew and Epstein: Timeline of events
1999
This is the year the prince first met Epstein, allegedly the pair were linked up via his friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell.
Andrew welcomes Epstein to Balmoral.
2000
Andrew, Maxwell and Epstein are seen on holiday at Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Epstein and Maxwell attend a party at Windsor Castle hosted by the Queen to mark Andrew’s 40th birthday, Princess Anne’s 50th, the Queen Mother’s 100th and Princess Margaret’s 70th.
2001
This is the year Virginia Roberts claims to have had sex with Andrew “three times, including one orgy”, with the first encounter reportedly taking place in Ms Maxwell’s London townhouse.
Ms Roberts claims to have later had sex with the duke on two more occasions, at Epstein’s New York home and at an “orgy” on his private island of Little St James in the Caribbean.
2008
Epstein admits prostituting minors and is sentenced to 18 months in prison.
2010
Epstein is released from jail. Andrew is photographed with the sex offender in Central Park.
Footage emerges years later, reportedly shot on December 6 2010, showing him inside Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, where he is seen looking out from a large door of the property waving a woman goodbye after Epstein leaves to get into a car.
2011
The duke resigns his role as UK trade envoy after the fallout from the Central Park photos.
2015
Buckingham Palace denies Andrew has committed any impropriety after he is named in US court documents related to Epstein. A woman, later named in reports as Ms Roberts, alleges in papers filed in Florida that she was forced to have sex with the duke when she was 17, which is under the age of consent in the US state.
In April the claims against Andrew are struck from US civil court records following a federal judge’s ruling.
2019
Newly released legal documents show that Johanna Sjoberg, another alleged Epstein victim, claimed Andrew touched her breast while sitting on a couch inside the US billionaire’s Manhattan apartment in 2001.
Buckingham Palace said the allegations are “categorically untrue”.
Epstein is found dead in his jail cell on August 10, after being charged with sex trafficking.
Later that month a pilot on Epstein’s private jet claims Andrew was a passenger on past flights with the financier and Ms Roberts.
Following Epstein’s death, a statement from the palace says that Andrew is ”appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes“.
Breaking his silence on the issue for the first time since 2015, Andrew then releases a statement on August 24 saying: ”At no stage during the limited time I spent with him (Epstein) did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.“
In November, during a BBC Newsnight interview the duke said he had ”no recollection“ of ever meeting Ms Roberts and added he could not have had sex with her in March 2001 because he was at Pizza Express with daughter Beatrice on the day in question.
He added that he “did not regret“ his friendship with the paedophile but admitted he should not have gone to see him in New York in 2010 to break off their friendship.
