PRINCE Andrew is “finished” and cannot ever return to public royal life after more links to Jeffrey Epstein emerged, a royal expert has claimed.
Newly released documents revealed how the disgraced Duke flew around on paedo financier Epstein’s private jet and had numerous massages laid on for him.
Andrew looked strained as he drove around today[/caption]
The Duke horse riding at Windsor[/caption]
Hugo Vickers has said the Duke of York is ‘finished’[/caption]
Andrew was listed as a passenger onboard Epstein’s jet on May 12, 2000, when he flew from Teterboro private airport in New Jersey to Palm Beach, Florida.
However, Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing and insists he cut off his friendship with the New York financier once details of his crimes were uncovered.
But the new bombshell revelation was made by further Epstein documents released by democrats sitting on the House Oversight Committee in the US.
Now, royal expert and biographer Hugo Vickers has said that “damaged” Andrew cannot sink any lower.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, he said: “Well, I’m always rather surprised hearing this latest revelation will finish Prince Andrew, because I had the feeling that he was already finished.
“After the Emily Maitlis interview, he was asked to step down from everything, all his royal duties, and in due course, his various royal connections.
“I saw that that had all happened, and yet more and more revelations keep coming along, and we keep being told, you know, he’s finished, but he’s already finished.”
Mr Vickers added: “He disappeared completely, and he went quiet. So all he does now is to ride in the park, and play golf.
“So I don’t really see that more revelations are going to damage him any further than he’s already damaged.”
The fresh revelations came after a committee received over 8,500 documents from the Epstein estate via a subpoena.
Andrew is named as travelling alongside Epstein, his then-girlfriend and now convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as two names which have been redacted.
The name Andrew appears again in the flight logs on May 16, 2002.
He was also documented enjoying services in February 2000 including “massage, exercise and yoga” at a cost of $200.
And Mr Vickers believes that Andrew’s exclusion from public royal life has left the new-look royal family “very slim indeed”.
He said: “I would say that, the so-called slimmed-down monarchy has now become very slim indeed.
“And, of course, you know, as I just said, when I looked through what Prince Andrew was doing, he was doing a lot before he was forced to step down.
“Along with Harry, they have lost, two key players, you could say.
“So, you know, it is a very slimmed-down monarchy, and so, you know, yes, they all have to work harder, because there aren’t enough of them around to do all the jobs that people want them to do.”
The disgraced Duke of York drew stares as he arrived with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral earlier this month.
After the service, Prince Andrew lingered in the steps of the cathedral standing next to an uncomfortable-looking Prince of Wales.
But Mr Vickers thinks that although the Duke is a “sinner”, staying at home may have looked disrespectful.
He said: “I don’t see what else he can do, but I do think that he should be indeed encouraged to go to church, frankly.
“I mean, if he’s this, so-called, you know, sinner and things, well, get him into church, get him into church, and, you know, let’s, you know, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
Andrew and Epstein’s friendship
EPSTEIN and Prince Andrew became pals after being introduced in the early 2000s.
Virginia Giuffre alleged Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked her to the Duke of York when she was 17 – a claim Andrew has denied.
The mum-of-three sued Prince Andrew in 2021, claiming she was trafficked and forced to have sex with the Duke on three occasions when she was a teen.
It was the first time she had brought action against him after going public with the allegations in 2011.
She claimed she was trafficked and forced to have sex with the Andrew for the first time at Maxwell’s house in London after a night out at the club Tramp.
Virginia also claimed she was forced to have sex with the Duke on at least two further occasions by Maxwell and Epstein.
She claimed she feared for her life when she was allegedly forced to have sex with Andrew, who is accused of having been aware of her age and status as a “sex-trafficking victim”.
Andrew has denied any wrongdoing and has denied allegations made against him.
The House Oversight Committee in the US is also coming under increasing pressure to subpoena Andrew over his ties to Epstein but he wouldn’t be obligated to attend any hearing as a British citizen.
Epstein’s jet picked up the chilling nickname “the Lolita Express” because many young women and girls were carted around on it.
Lolita is a novel published in 1955 where one of the characters obsesses over a 12 year old girl, eventually kidnapping and sexually abusing her after becoming her stepfather.
Epstein is known to have used his own massage sessions at his Palm Beach home to abuse young girls and force them into sex acts.
A number of his victims have testified that they were paid $200 per session – the same fee Andrew’s sessions appear to have cost.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges – his death was ruled a suicide.
Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing in his relationship with paedo Epstein[/caption]
