Prince Andrew was with the Queen at Balmoral when Jeffrey Epstein killed himself, a day after the royal was accused of intimate relations with the billionaire’s ‘sex slave’ in unsealed documents.
The Duke of York flew into Aberdeen on a private jet on Tuesday, days before Epstein was discovered hanging by Manhattan prison guards this morning.
Epstein, 66, a convicted paedophile, was awaiting trial accused of trafficking dozens of underage girls to properties in New York and Florida.
On Friday morning, a federal appeals court released explosive documents in which Prince Andrew was accused of having sex with Virginia Roberts Giuffre when she was 17, considered to be underage in Florida.
The papers related to a 2015 lawsuit that Ms Giuffre had filed against Epstein’s former girlfriend, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
The duke was further accused of touching the breast of Johanna Sjoberg, an alleged Epstein victim, while the pair sat on a sofa in the billionaire’s Manhattan apartment.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘This relates to proceedings in the United States, to which the Duke of York is not a party. Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.’
Unsealed file: Jeffrey Epstein’s former ‘sex slave’ Virginia Roberts alleges that she was intimate with Prince Andrew at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell in unsealed files (Roberts, then 17, with Prince Andrew and Maxwell at Maxwell’s London townhouse in 2001)
Prince Andrew arriving at Aberdeen Airport on a private jet along with five dogs on Tuesday to join the Queen at Balmoral
Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide inside his New York City jail cell. His body was found by guards around 7.30 on Saturday morning
Ms Sjoberg, who was 21 at the time, says in the papers: ‘I just remember someone suggesting a photo, and they told us to go get on the couch. And so Andrew and Virginia sat on the couch, and they put the puppet, the puppet on her lap.
‘And so then I sat on Andrew’s lap, and I believe on my own volition, and they took the puppet’s hands and put it on Virginia’s breast, and so Andrew put his on mine.’
In a May 3, 2016 deposition, Ms Giuffre alleged that she was trafficked by Epstein and Ms Maxwell to have sex with and provide erotic massages for politicians and affluent businessmen.
Ms Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, has previously denied the allegations.
Ms Giuffre claimed that she was ‘instructed’ by Ms Maxwell to have sex with two high powered Democrats – former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Both Mr Richardson and Mr Mitchell have denied the allegations.
Prince Andrew was also named as someone she had sex with as a teenager. Ms Giuffre does not allege that Prince Andrew knew that she was being instructed or paid by Epstein to have sex with his friends.
The Prince has always denied any wrongdoing and in a 2015 court application, a judge threw out Ms Giuffre’s allegations that she had sex with the royal and ordered them to be struck from the record as being ‘immaterial and impertinent.’
Buckingham Palace also issued on the record statements in January 2015, stating: ‘Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.’
Prince Andrew is pictured with paedophile businessman Jeffrey Epstein as the men stroll around Central Park in December 2010
Epstein is pictured with his associate and one-time girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in 2005. On Friday, explosive court documents pertaining to a 2015 lawsuit filed against Ms Maxwell were unsealed. Their contents implicated a number of high-profile men in sex scandals
After Epstein’s arrest, federal agents raided his $77 million Manhattan townhouse (pictured) where they uncovered hundreds of photographs of naked minors
Epstein hanged himself at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center where he was being held without bail on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking
Epstein was found in cardiac arrest shortly before 7am on Saturday at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The shocking news of Epstein’s death comes just two weeks after he was hospitalised following a first suicide attempt inside his prison cell.
On July 24, Epstein was rushed to hospital under police guard after he was discovered semi-conscious on the floor of his prison cell in the fetal position.
He spent several hours receiving medical attention before he was transported back to the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Epstein was said to be on suicide watch, although The New York Times reports that it is now unclear whether additional measures had been put in place to ensure he did not try to take his own life for a second time.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Metropolitan Correctional Center for comment.
Epstein is known for his previous friendships with Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, but court documents show Ms Giuffre denied ever having sexual relationships with either of those men.
Epstein was facing up to 45 years on his current charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking.
Prosecutors claim he sexually exploited dozens of underage teenagers, some as young as 14, at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.
They claim that Epstein was ‘well aware that many of the victims were minors.’
The girls were paid hundreds of dollars in cash to massage him, perform sexual acts and to recruit other girls, prosecutors allege.
They say Epstein had an army of recruiters, often not much older than their targets, who would approach vulnerable teens.
The billionaire was arrested on July 7 at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport after his private jet landed from Paris.
Epstein’s shocking suicide comes just 24 hours after court documents from Virginia Roberts Giuffre (pictured) were unsealed. Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked out by the pair to have sex with a number of high-powered businessmen and politicians
Former US Senator George Mitchell, (left), claimed he never met or spoke to Virginia Roberts Giuffre and never observed Jeffrey Epstein having inappropriate contact with girls. He is pictured in 1993 with Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi
On the same day, federal agents raided his $77 million Manhattan townhouse where they uncovered hundreds of photographs of naked minors.
After his arrest, he was subsequently denied bail.
Epstein is a convicted paedophile who was previously served 13 months in prison between 2009 and 2010 after pleading guilty to procuring underage prostitutes in the state of Florida.
He was allowed to leave prison a regularly basis to work at a nearby office, with critics outraged by the lenient sentence.
Following his release from prison in 2010, Epstein managed to make his way back into high-powered New York circles.
Epstein had pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls from at least 2002 to 2005. He is pictured in 2005