The Duke of York made a rare outing from his home and was snapped with a dozen friends at Windsor, despite not even venturing out from the Royal Lodge for his weekly horse riding trip last Saturday.
The 63-year-old royal was pictured at the wheel of a dark green Range Rover in his second ever outing since the humiliating Epstein files were unsealed at the beginning of the month.
Andrew was named 67 times in the documents relating to a 2015 defamation case against Ghislaine Maxwell brought by Virginia Giuffre. This included flight logs to Epstein’s infamous ‘Paedophile Island’ and allegations that Epstein forced a teenage girl to have sex with the Duke.
Prince Andrew has strenuously denied these allegations. He settled a civil sexual assault case brought on by Virginia Giuffre without admitting wrongdoing.
The Metropolitan Police said no new investigation has been launched.
Andrew reportedly locked himself in his home, with a source claiming the royal has “no idea” how to respond to the newly released documents.
The insider told the Mail: “He doesn’t have the emotional bandwidth to deal with this. He has locked himself away in a room and has no idea how to respond. He’s devastated.”
As the disgraced Duke is dealing with the new Epstein scandal, it has been revealed that King Charles may want to withdraw private funding for the security operation at Andrew’s home.
Andrew may have to fund the multi-million pound security costs at the Royal Lodge himself if he wants to stay in the 30-room mansion, the Telegraph reported.
The move will be seen as the monarch distancing himself publicly from his younger brother.
Buckingham Palace has not commented on the claims.
