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Prince Andrew to continue work on mentor scheme, says palace
Prince Andrew to continue work on mentor scheme, says palace
(about 3 hours later)
Controversial decision comes after royal said he was stepping down from public duties
Royal had said he was stepping down from public duties amid Jeffrey Epstein row
Buckingham Palace has risked reigniting the controversy surrounding Prince Andrew a day after he stepped down from public duties by announcing he would continue his work with a business mentoring initiative.
Buckingham Palace has risked reigniting the controversy surrounding Prince Andrew by announcing he will continue his work with a business mentoring initiative, a day after he said he was stepping down from public duties.
The Duke of York will continue to be involved with Pitch@Palace, which has held events at Buckingham and St James’s palaces, according to the statement, “but will look at how he takes this forward outside of his public duties, and outside of the palace”.
The Duke of York will continue to be involved with Pitch@Palace, which has held events at Buckingham and St James’s palaces, “but will look at how he takes this forward outside of his public duties, and outside of the palace,” a statement said.
“Naturally there will be a transition period while this takes place,” said Buckingham Palace.
“Naturally there will be a transition period while this takes place,” Buckingham Palace said.
The move to retain Prince Andrew’s links to the initiative, which corporate partners such as BT have been abandoning in recent days, muddies the water of what had appeared to be a clean break from royal duties.
The decision to retain Prince Andrew’s links to the initiative, which corporate partners such as BT have abandoned in recent days, raised concerns that it muddied the waters of what had appeared to be a clean break from royal duties.
It also signals a desire on the part of the palace to protect what was seen by some as a successful scheme, which builds ties between the corporate world and tech startups. At least one backer had suggested to the Guardian that Andrew could make way for another royal, such as Prince Harry or William.
Sources at one backer of the prince’s initiatives with the business community called for clarity. “To put it bluntly, this situation can’t last – the in-out-in-out hokey-cokey can’t last. So I would like to see some clarity on [his continuing involvement].”
Meanwhile, the University of Huddersfield announced the prince’s decision to stand down immediately as chancellor after a student panel voted for his resignation from the role.
The decision signals a desire on the part of the palace to protect what was seen by some as a successful scheme. At least one backer had suggested to the Guardian that Andrew could make way for another royal such as Prince Harry or William.
In his statement on Wednesday announcing he was standing down from public duties, the Duke of York said he was willing to help “any appropriate law enforcement agency” with their investigations after what he accepted was his “ill-judged association” with Epstein.
A spotlight also fell on the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust, which holds a controlling stake in the Pitch@Palace initiative. Charity Commission filings show the trust spent approximately £40,000 on charitable activities and £1.24m on raising funds in the 2017-18 financial year. Andrew is not listed as a trustee on the four-person board, which includes his private secretary, Amanda Thirsk.
Lisa Bloom, a lawyer representing five of Epstein’s victims, demanded further action by the prince.
Graham Smith, the chief executive of the campaign group Republic, said: “It’s not a surprise, given that royal charities we have looked into have similar patterns of minimal spending on charitable activities and quite a lot on fundraising, but it does appear to be a vanity project for Prince Andrew and a way giving him something to do. The trust is obliged to take independent decisions, irrespective of whether it has his name on it.”
In a tweet she called on him and his staff to appear for civil depositions and produce all relevant documents about his contact with Epstein.
Huddersfield University announced on Thursday that the prince had stood down as chancellor after a student panel called for his resignation.
On Wednesday in his statement saying he was standing down from public duties, the prince said he was willing to help “any appropriate law enforcement agency” with their investigations after what he accepted was his “ill-judged association” with Jeffrey Epstein.
Lisa Bloom, a lawyer representing five of Epstein’s victims, demanded further action by the prince. In a tweet she called on him and his staff to appear for civil depositions and produce all relevant documents about his contact with Epstein.
Later, when asked by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether she would approach Prince Andrew to serve him with a subpoena to provide a legal statement about his time with Epstein, Bloom replied: “We may as part of our investigation.”
Later, when asked by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether she would approach Prince Andrew to serve him with a subpoena to provide a legal statement about his time with Epstein, Bloom replied: “We may as part of our investigation.”
She added: “It may be difficult to serve a deposition subpoena on him. But we believe that nobody is above the law, and that everybody should have to answer questions, if they have relevant information, and he clearly does have relevant information.
She added: “It may be difficult to serve a deposition subpoena on him. But we believe that nobody is above the law, and that everybody should have to answer questions, if they have relevant information, and he clearly does have relevant information.
“I serve deposition subpoenas frequently and people sometimes fight it but eventually they usually have to appear and answer questions.”
It is understood there have been discussions within the royal family about the situation, with Prince Andrew talking to the Queen and the Prince of Wales.
Prince Andrew claims he met Epstein through Ghislaine Maxwell – the daughter of the media baron Robert Maxwell – who has been accused of serving as Epstein’s procurer.
Andrew met the Queen at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday before his decision to step down was announced.
Asked whether a statement from the prince would be useful for Epstein’s victims, Bloom said: “Absolutely. We know that Prince Andrew had many contacts with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and we think anybody who has had a lot of interaction with them should be speaking not only to law enforcement but to lawyers to the victims, people like me who are doing investigations.”
She added: “I also think that all of the staff who work for Prince Andrew, should come and give information and evidence, and that documents should be turned over: emails, texts, calendars, phone logs, travel logs, so that we can get to the bottom of this.”
She said some of her clients were determined to get answers about Epstein’s crimes. She said: “This is very important to women trying to put their lives back together.”
Bloom’s mother and fellow lawyer Gloria Allred, who also represents some of Epstein’s victims, said the prince’s statement on Wednesday was not clear about how willing he was to cooperate with investigations against his former friend.
Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight programme she said: “Is he insisting that he be served with a subpoena to testify, or is he willing to speak to law enforcement without being legally required to do so?
“My clients who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein have spoken to law enforcement without being ‘required’ to do so.”
She flagged two possible next steps. “One is the criminal justice investigation to see if charges should be filed in reference to anyone who might have knowingly conspired with Mr Epstein to recruit and to sex traffic underage girls to him.”
The other option was the pursuit of civil lawsuits, like that which she filed on behalf of a woman known as Jane Doe 15, who alleged assault by Epstein when she was aged 15.
Firms including BT and Barclays are among a growing number of businesses, universities and charities that have distanced themselves from the royal since his disastrous Newsnight interview on Saturday.
The prince was criticised for showing a lack of empathy towards Epstein’s victims and a lack of remorse over his friendship with the disgraced financier, who took his own life while in prison earlier this year.
It is understood there have been discussions within the royal family about the situation, with Prince Andrew talking to the Queen and the Prince of Wales.
Andrew met with the Queen on Wednesday, visiting her at Buckingham Palace before his decision to step down was announced.
In the Newsnight interview, the prince denied claims he slept with Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, on three separate occasions – twice while she was underage.
He said the alleged encounter in 2001 did not happen as he spent the day with his daughter, Princess Beatrice, taking her to Pizza Express in Woking for a party.
Giuffre said the same alleged sexual liaison began with the duke sweating heavily as they danced at Tramp, the London nightclub.
But the prince said he had a medical condition at the time which meant he did not sweat. He said he had no recollection of meeting Giuffre.
When asked if he regretted the “whole friendship with Epstein”, the prince replied: “Now, still not, and the reason being is that the people that I met and the opportunities that I was given to learn either by him or because of him were actually very useful.”
