Prince Andrew is a ‘busted flush’: Royal family decides there is no way back for Duke and he will never return to public duties six months after car-crash Epstein interview
- Royal family have ‘no plans to review’ Prince Andrew’s retirement from public life
- He stepped back from his duties ‘for the foreseeable future’ at end of last year
- It followed his car crash Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in November
- Duke since faced more controversies leading sources to brand him ‘busted flush’
The royal family have ‘no plans to review’ Prince Andrew’s retirement from public life following a series of controversies, sources say.
The beleaguered royal stepped back from his duties ‘for the foreseeable future’ following his car crash Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis last year.
Since then, the Duke of York has faced a series of controversies leading sources to brand him a ‘busted flush’ with a ‘toxic’ presence, The Times reported.
In the November interview, he attempted to ‘set the record straight’ by speaking about allegations that he had sex with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts three times, which he has stringently denied.
The royal family have ‘no plans to review’ Prince Andrew’s retirement from public life following a series of controversies, sources say. Pictured: The royal family during Trooping The Colour last year
In his Newsnight interview last year, the Duke spoke about allegations that he had sex with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts three times (pictured together), which he has stringently denied
But he was widely condemned for showing a lack of remorse over his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The interview triggered days of catastrophic headlines and caused a string of businesses and charities to desert him.
In March, the Duke of York hired PR expert Mark Gallagher, nicknamed ‘the backroom fixer’, to deal with the fallout from the scandal.
Mr Gallagher previously helped exonerate VIPs falsely accused of paedophilia by fantasist Carl Beech in 2014.
The beleaguered royal stepped back from his duties ‘for the foreseeable future’ following his car crash Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis (pictured) last year
The Prince (right) faced further controversy earlier this month after £355,297 paid to his private secretary Amanda Thirsk (left) was branded an ‘unauthorised trustee benefit’
The Queen is to pay Prince Andrew’s £6.7million debt on a Verbier ski chalet after a French socialite threatened to drag the case through the courts, it is claimed. Pictured, the Duke of York leaving Chalet Helora
An insider told US magazine Air Mail that the Queen will pay the debt to Isabelle de Rouvre (left) to avoid Prince Andrew being dragged through the courts
The Prince faced further controversy earlier this month after £355,297 paid to his private secretary was branded an ‘unauthorised trustee benefit’.
Amanda Thirsk, the Duke of York’s long-standing private secretary who resigned shortly after the disastrous BBC Newsnight interview last year, was given the money as payment for her work as trustee of the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust (PACT).
The Queen’s third son is also currently in a dispute alongside his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson over a £6million debt for their £18million ski chalet in Verbier, Switzerland.
Prince Andrew, 60, has enlisted the services of Mark Gallagher (left), nicknamed ‘the backroom fixer’, to deal with the fallout of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal
It has today been reported that The Queen is to pay the debt after a French socialite threatened to drag the case through the courts, it is claimed.
Her Majesty will end the feud between the Duke and Duchess of York and Isabelle de Rouvre, who sold the Switzerland luxury chalet to them for £18million in 2014.
The socialite is now pursuing them in court, after alleging they did not pay the remaining £6.7million for Chalet Helora.
An insider told US magazine Air Mail that the Queen will pay the debt herself to avoid Prince Andrew being dragged through the courts.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.