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Prince Andrew likely to have been caught on tape at Epstein home, lawyer says
Prince Andrew is likely to have been caught on tape during one of his visits to Jeffrey Epstein’s homes, a lawyer for the dead sex offender’s alleged victims has claimed.
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David Boies, who is representing Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times, told the Mail on Sunday: “There is no doubt Prince Andrew would have been captured on footage filmed in rooms and private areas of Epstein’s property. We know there were cameras throughout the New York mansion and in Epstein’s other properties. We know there were a multitude of cameras and very large quantities of tapes.
“Prince Andrew would have been included. He would certainly have been included among the people who would have been captured on the tapes.”
It certainly seems likely that Epstein would not have allowed one of his most famous pals to roam his house without keeping a record of it; Epstein is widely believed to have set up the photograph of himself and Andrew walking in Central Park.
The new claim about video tapes put further pressure on Andrew after the capture last week of his friend Ghislaine Maxwell by the FBI.
Andrew and Ghislaine were old friends and she is believed to have introduced him to Epstein. Andrew is now said to be weighing up whether to come out against Ghislaine.
Ghislaine, reportedly dressed in paper clothes in a Brooklyn jail, is no doubt making her own calculations.
The U.K. Sunday Times reports that Maxwell is seeking to block the unsealing of hundreds of pages of evidence gathered during a since-settled defamation action brought against her by Roberts Giuffre, arguing that the sealed documents are “extremely personal” and may be used to “promote public scandal.”
The Sunday Times says the evidence is said to include the names of “hundreds of people” allegedly linked to Epstein.
Maxwell is due to appear in court in New York on Tuesday on charges of grooming and trafficking minors. She faces up to 35 years in jail if convicted.
It all piles more pressure on the disgraced prince, and the possible existence of tapes will be a particular worry.
Although the FBI has not officially commented on whether they have found surveillance tapes during their raids of Epstein properties, a bail memo prepared last year by investigators after Epstein was arrested, said they found “hundreds” of nude photos of girls, some of whom they claimed to appear to be underage.
The bail memo, which is a matter of public record, said that the photographs seemed to match up with accounts from women who alleged they were abused by Epstein. Epstein, of course, hung himself a few weeks later in a Manhattan jail cell.
Andrew has admitted visiting Epstein multiple times and maintaining a long friendship with him even when he knew he had been convicted of child sex offenses. He claimed that the last time he visited him, in 2010, was for the purpose of ending his friendship with Epstein in person because he was “too honorable” to end it remotely.
However it subsequently emerged that he stayed in the house for several days and Epstein threw a star-studded party for him during his visit. Just six months earlier Epstein had been released from a 13-month prison term for soliciting a minor for sex.
A spokesperson for Prince Andrew declined to comment to The Daily Beast.
The ‘marvelously wicked’ Princess Anne approaches 70
Princess Anne will turn 70 on August 15, and the U.K. Sunday Times has a revealing portrait of one of the royal family’s most intriguing members.
The queen’s daughter is not one to hog the limelight, which makes her rare forays into it always a bit of a riot, when—even though she probably didn’t mean to—she seemed to snub President Trump on his trip to Britain in 2019. She is likely the only royal to survive a kidnapping attempt by scorning her would be assailant.
The Times recalls a young girl telling Anne: “You don’t look much like a princess.”
“Good,” Anne reportedly replied. “That’s very reassuring.”
The Times also speaks to Captain Sir Nick Wright, a former naval officer, who was Anne’s longest-serving private secretary, retiring last year after 17 years. Captain Wright says Anne’s sense of humor is “marvelously wicked”—no news there. And she brims with energy. “The day starts early and ends at 11pm, day in, day out. Like the Duke of Edinburgh, she’ll just go on and on.
“She is totally consistent. If I’d done something wrong, I’d get a look, which can be disarming at times, but then she would immediately move on. Now, more than ever she will be a great stabilizing influence for the monarchy, and when the Prince of Wales accedes to the throne, I don’t see her role being diminished, because she is such a valued and committed member of the family.”
The Times also analyzes the state of Anne’s relationship with second husband Commander Timothy Laurence, whom she wed in 1992. “There has been speculation in recent years that the couple have grown apart and live separate lives, but people who know them say the partnership remains watertight,” the Times reports.
“I’ve seen them together often and they seem to me a very good team,” lyricist Sir Tim Rice, a long-standing friend of Anne’s, told the paper, recalling when the couple came to see a revival of the musical Chess at the London Coliseum. “They sat at the back, we had a sandwich at half-time, and when some of the producers found out they said, ‘Why didn’t you tell us? We could have made more of a fuss.’ But that’s exactly what she doesn’t want.”
Harry and Meghan hit Beverly Hills
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made a rare excursion outside of their L.A. compound Friday. The hat- and mask-wearing duo were snapped hopping into a black Cadillac SUV in Beverly Hills, and the pictures are published by the Daily Mail, which reports that Meghan was wearing a loose cream linen dress with matching cream and black Sam Edelman ballet flats. Harry was in polo shirt and jeans.
In a dig at Meghan and Harry’s green credentials, the Mail quoted online reviews of the SUV as being “as far from environmentally friendly as you can get.”
Kate’s tennis surprise
Kate Middleton pulled a most excellent Zoom surprise for young tennis players from Bond Primary School in South London, with the sudden appearance of Brit-champion Andy Murray.
Of his choice as tennis as a career, Murray said: “It was one of the few things I was good at, really; but I did because I enjoyed it, and I had fun doing it, so I’ve been very lucky.”
As Kensington Palace tweeted: “Game. Set. Match.”
This week in royal history
This coming Friday, happy 73rd birthday, Camilla! Once universally despised for being the third person in Diana and Charles’ marriage—as Diana famously put it—Charles’ now-wife was born on July 17, 1947 at King’s College Hospital, London.
Time has been kinder since the hatred leveled at Camilla in the wake of Diana’s death in 1997. Now she and Charles are aging companionably, having this year endured his coronavirus diagnosis. And whatever her eventual title (a subject of much debate), when Charles does ascend to the throne, Camilla will be queen.
Unanswered questions
The net is tightening around Prince Andrew. Will Ghislaine Maxwell betray him, or will be talk? Just what is the real story with Meghan Markle and best friend Jessica Mulroney? Has Meghan really ended the friendship in the wake of Mulroney’s racism controversy, or is the situation more complex? And might Meghan be worried about what Jessica could tell if she did end the friendship?
