When Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on July 2, it meant another round of criticism for Prince Andrew, who retired from royal duties last fall amid fallout over his friendship with her ex-confidant Jeffrey Epstein. Despite the headlines, the prince has continued to lie low, and when reached by the New York Times, his lawyers declined to comment on her charges or the FBI’s continued interest in interviewing the prince.
In the meantime, he has been seen driving with his bodyguard around the grounds of Windsor Castle, where he has a house, Royal Lodge, on his mother’s gated estate. During the country’s lockdown, he was reportedly quarantining there with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, and their daughter Princess Eugenie. He was first seen there since Maxwell’s arrest last Thursday, according to the Daily Mail. On Tuesday, he was spotted leaving his Windsor home again in his Range Rover with a bodyguard in tow, according to The Sun, just hours after Maxwell pleaded not guilty from a jail in Brooklyn.
The newspaper noted that he was grinning as the photograph was taken, adding that he was “looking relaxed and sharing a laugh with his bodyguard.” But according to a report in The Telegraph, Andrew has actually been agonizing in the wake of Maxwell’s arrest. Friends of Andrew’s think he is being scapegoated, and one source told the newspaper that he is having difficulty deciding whether or not to speak out against Maxwell. “He is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t,” the source said. “This doesn’t seem a good time for him to publicly come out and criticize her. It would seem bad timing to do that now.” The Telegraph added that he has begun working with Clare Montgomery, a lawyer who specializes in extradition.
Maxwell, on the other hand, is reportedly trying to distance herself from Andrew, who told the BBC that Maxwell had introduced him to Epstein in 1999. According to a report in the Mail on Sunday, friends claim that Maxwell was not actually the person who introduced Andrew to Epstein, but that it happened at the behest of Lynn Forester de Rothschild in 1999.
Though Andrew has been avoiding the spotlight, Ferguson has been going about business as usual. In April, she began filming YouTube videos from Royal Lodge, where she reads storybooks with guests and does crafts. Since Maxwell’s arrest, Ferguson has continued to upload to her YouTube channel, Storytime With Fergie and Friends. On Tuesday, she posted two new videos, including a reading of a book about animal hide-and-seek.
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
— Inside Ghislaine Maxwell’s Life on the Lam
— Did Meghan and Harry Make Their Royal Exit to Tell the Truth About the Commonwealth?
— How Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell’s Friendship Became a Scandal
— The Stranger-Than-Fiction Secret History of Prog-Rock Icon Rick Wakeman
— Everyone Is Homeschooling. Not Everyone Is Doing It Like the Ultrarich.
— How Quarantine Introduced the Real Camilla to the World
— From the Archive: The Trouble With Prince Andrew
Looking for more? Sign up for our daily newsletter and never miss a story.