by The Duke of York has been reported to the police by campaign group Republic after allegations of sexual assault resurfaced in unsealed court documents.
Graham Smith, the chief executive of the Republic, urged the Metropolitan Police to reopen investigations and asked the King to make a public statement and take questions from the press on the matter.
Andrew, 63, who previously vehemently denied the allegations, paid millions years ago to settle a civil case out of court with Virginia Giuffre without admitting guilt after she accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 years old.
The development is a fresh setback for the late Queen’s second son who, just 10 days ago, walked to church on Christmas Day with the King and the rest of the royal family, marking his gradual recovery within the monarchy after his brother’s public appearance. coronation in his garter robes in May.
Allegations that Andrew had an orgy with underage girls and touched a woman’s breast while posing as a puppet of himself have emerged in legal documents relating to the scandal involving billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The duke is mentioned more than 70 times in nearly 1,000 pages of interviews and transcripts released in the United States in connection with a 2015 defamation case brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed for sex trafficking girls young for Epstein.
The names of more than 170 people who were partners, friends or victims of Epstein are being published following a judge’s order last month, including high-profile figures such as former US president Bill Clinton.
Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, said on Thursday that he had reported Andrew to the police, accusing the Met of failing to conduct a serious criminal investigation into the case.
The force said in August 2022 that it was taking no further action in relation to allegations made against Epstein and that any future inquiries into human trafficking by the sex offender would focus on activities outside the UK.
He also previously said he stood by his decision in 2015 not to investigate Ms Giuffre’s claims that Epstein had sex-trafficked her to London.
Mr Smith said: “So far, there appears to have been no serious criminal investigation, no interviews of the accused or other witnesses, and no clear justification for taking no action.
“I’m asking the Met Police to reopen this case, I’m asking MPs to discuss this case in Parliament, and I’m asking Charles to make a public statement, in front of the press and taking questions, to answer on those. allegations and what they have to say about the monarchy.
“How can we not expect an answer from the Government and the head of state? At the time of the alleged offences, Andrew was a government trade ambassador and an active member of the royal family.
“They fought for 11 years before they took any decisive action.”
Mr Smith said: “The question a lot of people will be asking is a simple one: if the accused had been someone else, do we believe they would not have been investigated and prosecuted?”
Buckingham Palace, which no longer speaks for the duke after he stepped down as working royal in 2019 because of his friendship with Epstein, has not commented on the documents.
Testimony from Johanna Sjoberg, who worked for Epstein as a masseuse, alleged that Andrew touched her breast while sitting on a couch inside Epstein’s Manhattan apartment while posing for a photo with a picture of himself in 2001.
The claim, previously alleged, is thought to refer to the Spitting Image puppet of the duke.
Ms Sjoberg testified in May 2016: “Ghislaine told me to come upstairs, and we went into a closet and pulled out the puppet, a caricature of Prince Andrew, and brought it down.
“And the puppet had a little tag on it that said ‘Prince Andrew’, and that’s when I knew who it was.”
Ms Sjoberg was asked what the puppet looked like and she replied: “It did.
“And she brought it down and presented it to him; and that was a big joke, because apparently it was a production from a BBC show.
“And they decided to take a picture with him, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a sofa.
“They put the puppet on Virginia’s lap, and I sat on Andrew’s lap, and they put the puppet’s hand on Virginia’s breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo.”
Among other things the duke mentioned are previous allegations that Epstein “forced Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with a member of the British royal family, Prince Andrew (a/k/a the Duke of York)” at three site, including Epstein’s private. island “in the company of many other underage girls”.
The document claimed that Epstein directed Jane Doe number 3 to give Andrew “whatever he demanded” and that Maxwell “facilitated Prince Andrew’s acts of sexual abuse by acting as a ‘lady’ for Epstein”.
Ms Giuffre claimed Epstein trafficked her to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 and a minor under US law at Maxwell’s home in London, at Epstein’s home in New York and during an orgy with Epstein on the Caribbean island.
She was asked about the location of the famous photograph showing her with the duke, who has his arm around her, with Maxwell laughing in the background.
Ms Giuffre said it may have been in storage boxes “full of Nerf guns, my children’s toys, photographs” at her mother and father-in-law’s home in Sydney, Australia.
She said she gave the picture to the FBI in 2011 but saw it last time before she packed her house to emigrate from Colorado to Australia.
Among the documents appears to be an email sent by Maxwell expressing her concern about being questioned about her own relationship with Andrew.
He says: “I have already suffered such a terrible and painful loss in the last few days that I can’t even see what life looks like after hell even in the press – statements that do not address all but lead to more questions . .. what is my relationship with Clinton? Andrew over and over.”
In Maxwell’s 2016 videotape deposition, she claimed she could only recall the duke visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.
The Met Police and the duke’s representatives have been contacted for comment.
