Prince Andrew Denies Claims He Had Sex With an Underage Girl

Prince Andrew has denied accusations that he had sex with a minor. The Duke of York is dragged into his friend Jeffrey Epstein’s legal mess after an unnamed woman alleges she was forced to have sex with him when she was just 17.

The Duke’s friendship with Epstein remained steadfast even after the latter’s 2008 conviction of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. And although he was reported to have cut all ties with Epstein in 2011, his friendship with the sex offender earned the prince criticisms. He also lost his job as a trade envoy for Britain.

His name, though sullied a bit by his association with Epstein, has never been mentioned in court as another perpetrator in the American financier’s sex case until now. The Prince was often named in court as Epstein’s friend, someone who was frequently seen inside his Florida mansion, but never been alleged to have been directly involved in Epstein’s illegalities. Court papers now reveal that a woman only named as “Jane Doe 3” claims she was forced to have sex with the prince three times.

Jane Doe 3 claims their sexual encounters took place in London, New York and U.S. Virgin Islands, with one meeting being an “orgy with numerous underage girls.” She says in the documents submitted to federal court in Florida that she was just 15 when she was groomed by Epstein’s then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of disgraced newspaper owner Robert Maxwell, to be a sex slave for Epstein. The incidents involving Andrew allegedly happened between 1999 and 2002 when she was still 15 to 17.

Prince Andrew is not an accused in the proceedings, although he is named as part of evidence relating to a case involving Epstein. Jane Does 1 and 2 are suing the U.S. for failing to protect their rights when it entered into a plea deal with Epstein, who only spent time in jail for 13 months for relatively minor charges of child prostitution. Jane Doe 3, the one who claims Andrew had sex with her when she was just a minor, as well as Jane Doe 4, joined the first two women’s case.

The palace refused to comment on the legal proceedings, but emphatically denied the allegations that Andrew had been sexually involved with minors.

“This relates to longstanding and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which the Duke of York is not a party,” a spokeswoman from the Buckingham Palace said. “As such we would not comment on the detail. However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.”