Lawyers representing a second woman who alleges she was sent to the UK by Jeffrey Epstein for a sexual encounter with the then Prince Andrew have called on King Charles's legal team to issue a “real apology”. The woman, said to be non-British and in her twenties at the time, claims she spent the night with Andrew at Royal Lodge in 2010 and was given a tour of Buckingham Palace.
In a statement, Brittany Henderson of the US law firm Edwards Henderson said: “Andrew's power only existed because of his royal family. Andrew's complicity and involvement with Epstein and Maxwell has been well known to us, to Andrew, and to the palace for many years.” She urged the king's legal team to contact her in a “good faith effort” to learn what Andrew has done, meet victims, issue a sincere apology, and ensure fair compensation.
The allegation coincides with the release of more than three million documents by the US Department of Justice, which appear to show the depth of friendship between Epstein and Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. Emails from 2009 and 2010 include Ferguson thanking Epstein for being “the brother I have always wished for” and asking for £20,000 for rent, saying the landlord had threatened to go to newspapers.
Other emails suggest a lunch in July 2009 involving Ferguson, her daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, and Epstein after his release from prison on child sex offences. One message from Epstein to a hedge fund manager claims “fergie said she could organise tea in the buckingham palace apts. or windsor castle”. Ferguson also appears to have congratulated Epstein on the birth of a “baby boy” in 2011, and later complained that he was “only friends with me to get to Andrew”.
Prince Andrew has consistently denied allegations that he had sex with Virginia Giuffre when she was 17, and settled a civil case with her for a reported £12m without admitting liability. He was stripped of his royal titles and moved out of Royal Lodge last year. A Buckingham Palace statement at the time expressed sympathies for victims and survivors of abuse.
