Queen anxious over Andrew's links to Ghislaine Maxwell as questioning would mean body blow to royals' image
Queen Elizabeth II is reportedly “anxious” about further damage to the royal family’s reputation. The reason behind the Queen’s worry are lawyers’ demands that Prince Andrew be questioned.
This comes after Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidante, was arrested in New Hampshire earlier on Thursday, July 2. Her arrest has caused fresh concerns for the royal family as lawyers of Epstein's victims have alleged that Andrew was “hiding” behind his powerful family, The Sun reported. It has been said that there was a time when Maxwell was close to the royals. She was welcomed at royal homes, she used to stay overnight at Sandringham, and had attended several parties at Windsor Palace. However, now since she has been arrested on child sex charges, the palace fears that she will "damn" the Duke of York while damaging his family’s reputation.
Reports said that one of the lawyers who is handling some of Epstein's victims’ cases, Spencer Coogan, has demanded the interrogation of Andrew. He has called on the 60-year-old to come forward and speak to the US prosecutors about his friendship with the disgraced billionaire. "I certainly think Prince Andrew has a story to tell. On behalf of the victims, we have continuously asked him to step forward, step up, be a man and tell us what he knows,” Coogan told BBC Radio 4's Today program.
Coogan added: “He has been hiding behind not only the royal family but his attorneys. Regardless of his position we, on behalf of the victims, hope that he will step forward and speak up about what he witnessed, at the very least when he was visiting the (Epstein) mansion in New York, when he visited the home in Palm Beach and when we know he was down visiting the Virgin Islands' mansion."
Meanwhile, Andrew’s legal team has confirmed to CNN that they “will not be commenting” on the arrest of Maxwell, prompting Twitter users to make fun of him as they predicted that the duke might be in trouble after Maxwell's arrest. One user commented: “Right about now... Doctors declare 'a miracle' as Prince Andrew regains the ability to sweat after hearing Ghislaine Maxwell has been arrested by the FBI." Another added, “I know we're all extremely hot right now, despite sweating buckets. But not every animal has this cooling mechanism, and it's more important than ever to keep animals that don't cool. Please please make sure you check in on your dogs, rhinos, hippos, pigs, and Prince Andrew."
The allegations against Andrew stem from his relationship with Epstein, who apparently committed suicide following his July 2019 arrest while awaiting trial for child sex trafficking. At the time, one of the victims of the late financer, identified as Virginia Roberts Giuffre, said that Epstein forced her to perform sex acts with many eminent men, including Andrew in 2001.
Following the accusations and an explosive interview with BBC in November 2019 in which Andrew said that he had no regret of his decade-long friendship with Epstein, he was sacked from royal duties. The Queen also stripped him of his annual £249,000 (approx $322,000) Sovereign Grant allowance.