LONDON, Jan. 5 (UPI) — Buckingham Palace issued a second strongly worded denial on Monday in response to reports of Prince Andrew’s alleged sexual misconduct with a minor.
“It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
Roberts, now 30, is a litigant in a lawsuit filed in Florida against American investment banker Jeffrey Epstein. According to a motion she filed anonymously last week — referred to as “Jane Doe 3,” she claimed that Epstein loaned her out when she was 17 as an underage “sex slave” to his friends, including to Prince Andrew. The Daily Mail, who had previously spoken to Roberts about the court proceedings, published her name Sunday.
A former friend of Prince Andrew, Epstein was imprisoned for 13 months in 2008 for soliciting sex from a minor. An ex-employee of Epstein’s testified in a sworn deposition that he witnessed the Duke of York attending naked pool parties and receiving massages from female minors.
Buckingham Palace last week dismissed the allegation of sexual impropriety as “categorically untrue.” The reiterated denial on Monday follows the publication of Roberts’ name and an assertion made by her father that Virginia had met Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Andrew’s mother. The Palace said their is no record of such a meeting.
Prince Andrew returned Sunday from a family ski vacation on Sunday and was reportedly meeting with lawyers from his firm, Harbottle & Lewis. He has been advised not to comment on his interactions with Roberts.
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