London’s Metropolitan Police on Sunday said it was “actively looking into” claims that recently defrocked Prince Andrew had tried in 2011 to enlist his taxpayer-funded bodyguard’s help digging up dirt on Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.
The disclosure came after British news outlets reported that leaked email correspondence indicated Andrew had given the guard Giuffre’s date of birth and confidential social security number and asked him to check for a criminal record. There was no indication the guard had complied, reports said.
Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles III, had announced two days earlier through Buckingham Palace that he would no longer use his royal titles amid expanding fallout from his association with the billionaire playboy and convicted sex offender. Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking.
The prince had already stepped back from royal duties in 2019 as evidence surfaced of his close association with Epstein. He had repeatedly denied knowing Giuffre, who committed suicide earlier this year at age 41 after years of fighting for justice. Moreover, although Andrew said in a notoriously disastrous 2019 BBC interview that he had ditched Epstein completely in 2010, emails have surfaced indicating he stayed in active contact at least into 2011.
Andrew’s alleged request to his security guard had come just days before publication of an incriminating photo of the prince with an arm around a midriff-bared teen Giuffre, both of them standing next to Epstein’s now-imprisoned accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre had steadfastly maintained she was forced into sex with Andrew three times, two of them when she was 17, and that he knew how young she was at the time. In 2022, Andrew settled a lawsuit Giuffre brought against him for an undisclosed sum, while denying all allegations.
The latest development came just a few days before the release of Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, slated for Tuesday, promising even more explosive allegations against Andrew and other prominent figures.
Andrew would be the first royal family member subject to police investigation in 20 years, The Telegraph reported.
Giuffre’s family lauded the decision from Buckingham Palace as a vindication for her and all of Epstein’s other victims, but said one more punishment remained. They called for King Charles to formally strip his brother of those royal titles, though that would require an act of Parliament.
Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, will also stop using her Duchess of York title. Both have been told to steer clear of the family’s Christmas celebration and were asked to remain “invisible” at future events, The Sunday Times reported in September.
With News Wire Services
