Prince Andrew spotted for first time since Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest

Prince Andrew has today been pictured for the first time since Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest  a week ago as Donald Trump’s Attorney General said his prosecutors ‘definitely’ want to speak to the royal about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged madam.

The Duke of York looked serious as he drove out of the gates of Windsor Castle this afternoon where he has been keeping a low profile at his lodge in the grounds of his mother’s estate.

Andrew is involved in a war of words with the US authorities over whether he will assist their inquiries into the sex crimes of his paedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein, who hanged himself in a New York jail cell last summer. 

Ms Maxwell was arrested on July 2 after a raid on her remote mansion in New Hampshire and is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York after being charged with child sex trafficking and perjury. Epstein’s ‘sex slave’ Virginia Roberts claimed she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17.

Today the US Attorney General Bill Barr said that Andrew must speak to the FBI and his team ‘definitely’ want to interview him.

He said: ‘The department wants to talk to Prince Andrew. That’s why the Southern District has been making efforts to communicate with him. We’ve made it clear that we’d like to communicate with him’.

A source close to Prince Andrew previously told DailyMail.com that he was ‘bewildered’ by the ongoing claims that he wasn’t cooperating, and says his team tried to reach prosecutors several times.

Prince Andrew has today been pictured for the first time since his Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest by the FBI on July 2 on perjury and child sex trafficking charges

Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts, aged 17 at Ghislaine Maxwell's townhouse in London and the Duke of York is in a war of words with the US authorities and the royal insists he is willing to speak to them about Jeffrey Epstein

Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts, aged 17 at Ghislaine Maxwell’s townhouse in London and the Duke of York is in a war of words with the US authorities and the royal insists he is willing to speak to them about Jeffrey Epstein

Ghislaine Maxwell will be 'naming names' and 'fully co-operating' with the FBI and Prince Andrew is among those 'very worried' about what she might reveal, a former associate of Jeffrey Epstein has claimed (Epstein and Maxwell are pictured together in New York in 2005)

Ghislaine Maxwell will be ‘naming names’ and ‘fully co-operating’ with the FBI and Prince Andrew is among those ‘very worried’ about what she might reveal, a former associate of Jeffrey Epstein has claimed (Epstein and Maxwell are pictured together in New York in 2005) 

Attorney General Bill Barr said the government had Maxwell's security 'locked up' and that she won't be able to kill herself or be harmed

Attorney General Bill Barr said the government had Maxwell’s security ‘locked up’ and that she won’t be able to kill herself or be harmed 

Speaking to ABC News Mr Barr said the government had Maxwell’s security ‘locked up’ to ensure she would neither be able to kill herself or be harmed, Barr answered firmly: ‘Yes. We have asked them to tell us specifically the protocols they’re following and we have a number of redundant systems to monitor the situation.’ 

He added that he was ‘livid’ when Epstein killed himself and that he wanted to see him brought to justice. 

‘I was livid obviously. I believed very strongly in that case and I was very proud of the work done by the department, the Southern District on that case, and as you recall, after he committed suicide, I said that I was confident that we would continue to pursue this case vigorously and continue to pursue anyone who was complicit in it.

‘I was very happy we were able to get Ms Maxwell,’ he said. 

Maxwell, 58, is currently in custody in Brooklyn, awaiting her first court appearance on charges of child sex trafficking and perjury. Speculation is rife that she may talk to prosecutors about others in her and Epstein’s network in an effort to reduce her potential sentence. 

Among the names on the list is Prince Andrew, who allegedly slept with a 17-year-old after being introduced to her by Maxwell in London in 2001. 

Barr said that prosecutors ‘definitely’ want to speak to the royal and claims they have been trying to contact him.   

Prince Andrew (pictured during his BBC Newsnight interview last year) is under increasing pressure to give evidence - lawyer Gloria Allred says Andrew wants an invitation 'on a silver platter'

- lawyer Gloria Allred says Andrew wants an invitation 'on a silver platter'

Prince Andrew (pictured during his BBC Newsnight interview last year) is under increasing pressure to give evidence to the FBI about Jeffrey Epstein – lawyer Gloria Allred says Andrew wants an invitation ‘on a silver platter’

Maxwell, left, was last seen at an In-N-Out Burger in August. She is now in custody in Brooklyn. Epstein killed himself in jail last August. Some believe he was murdered

Maxwell, left, was last seen at an In-N-Out Burger in August. She is now in custody in Brooklyn. Epstein killed himself in jail last August. Some believe he was murdered

Maxwell, left, was last seen at an In-N-Out Burger in August. She is now in custody in Brooklyn. Epstein killed himself in jail last August. Some believe he was murdered

Epstein's cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where he was found hanging last August

Epstein’s cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where he was found hanging last August

Epstein was found hanging in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan last August. 

His death was ruled a suicide but his attorneys and some family members claim he was murdered to stop him from sharing what he knows about other high profile, powerful people. 

On the night of his death, the two guards tasked with checking in on him simply failed to. Instead, they were napping and watching TV, they claimed. 

There is also no surveillance footage from inside the jail from the evening he is said to have taken his own life. Those two things combined have driven conspiracy theorists into overdrive. 

Maxwell is due in court via video-link on Friday. 

She is accused of procuring three underage girls for Epstein between 1994 and 1997 and having sex with them herself. 

She has previously, in civil court, denied similar allegations. 

The British socialite was arrested in New Hampshire last week in a $1million house she bought quietly with cash in December. She has not been seen publicly since then, or since last August. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk