In 2019, days after Jeffrey Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail, Prince Andrew was photographed playing golf on vacation in Costa del Sol, Spain along with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.This year, his annual Spanish golf holiday is off, according to The Sun, and it’s not just coronavirus concerns keeping Andrew at home.
On Thursday, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, was arrested and charged as a coconspirator, allegedly grooming and transporting victims. In his disastrous BBC interview last November, Andrew said that Maxwell was the “key element” in his friendship with Epstein—and according to The Sun, Maxwell’s arrest has him feeling uneasy.
Andrew canceled the trip because he was feeling “nervous,” according to one palace insider who spoke to the newspaper, who added that it’s likely he will “never travel to the U.S. again.” Andrew has not been charged in the current investigation. The charges against Maxwell cover the period of 1994 to 1997, before Andrew has said he met Epstein, in 1999, along with two counts of perjury for testimony given in 2016. (She has previously denied similar allegations when posed in civil lawsuits.)
Geoffrey Berman, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, complained for months about Andrew’s reluctance to participate in the ongoing investigation related to Epstein. A source close to Andrew later told The Telegraph that Andrew would have cooperated were it not for Berman’s public statements. (Berman was controversially fired from his role at the SDNY, and [his replacement, acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, has taken over the case.)
But now, more details are emerging about Andrew’s behind-the-scenes actions in the wake of Maxwell’s arrest. According to the New York Times, Andrew’s lawyers at the London firm Blackfords requested the help of a Washington, D.C.–based lobbyist for unspecified assistance. The lobbyist, Robert Stryk, whose company Sonoran Policy Group reportedly advertises itself as “global private diplomacy” firm, did not end up taking Andrew on as his client and expressed discomfort with the possibility, according to the Times. (Stryk and Andrew’s representatives at Blackfords declined to comment when reached by the newspaper)
Laura Goldman, an American stockbroker and friend of Maxwell’s, told the The Telegraph that she was confident that Maxwell would never turn over any information about Andrew to the FBI because of their friendship. “The only way she can walk is if she gives someone up, but that definitely won’t be Andrew,” said Goldman. “She is so appreciative that when she first came to New York, the duke helped to launch her into high society. She always talks about what a true friend he is. She doesn’t see any reason to speak about him to the authorities.”
Goldman also seconded Andrew’s previous claim that he assumed the people he saw at Epstein’s house were “staff.” She said, “Ghislaine’s always told me that Andrew’s kind of stupid and naive and if there were girls in the house while he was there, he would have thought they were servants. All these people thinking he is evil are just wrong. He is just the kind of entitled person who sees everyone as a servant.”
On Thursday, a new lawsuit alleged that Andrew was in the Manhattan townhouse around the same time that Caroline Kaufman, a woman who was then 17, claims Epstein raped her in 2010. According to the New York Daily News, the suit does not accuse Andrew of any wrongdoing. (When reached by the The Independent for comment about Kaufman’s allegations, Andrew’s P.R. representatives and legal team declined to comment.)
Despite the controversy, Sarah Ferguson has continued uploading new videos to her YouTube channel, Story Time with Fergie and Friends. During the U.K.’s lockdown earlier this spring, Andrew and Ferguson were reportedly quarantining together at Royal Lodge, the Windsor house they share.
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