Widely purported to have been the late Queen’s “favourite” child, Prince Andrew has suffered a sharp fall from grace over the last decade.
Plagued by a string of controversies, the latest blow has seen new messages between the duke and Jeffrey Epstein come to light - sent months after Andrew claimed to have cut the disgraced financier off.
Emails between Andrew and Epstein handed to a court in London reportedly show they were still exchanging messages until at least late February 2011, when the duke wrote: “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon.”
Andrew’s ties to the paedophile eventually forced him to step down from his royal duties and in January 2022, he was stripped of his royal patronages.
In the years since, he has faced a number of other scandals, including a “close confidante” of his being banned from the UK over allegations he was a Chinese spy.
Here, The Independent takes a look at a timeline of Andrew’s fall from grace and his retreat from the public eye.
Queen’s favourite
The Queen stood by Andrew’s side even when he was caught up in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in 2019 and “stepped back from royal duties for the foreseeable future”.
In October 2021, it was claimed the monarch intended to spend millions of pounds privately funding her son’s defence against allegations of sexual abuse made by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre.
She also signalled her support for her disgraced son by arriving alongside him for Prince Philip’s memorial service in March 2021.
Andrew provided a steady arm for the Queen as she walked into Westminster Abbey to remember the life of her husband, just a few weeks after he reached a multimillion-pound out-of-court settlement with Ms Giuffre.
Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
During his 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight, Andrew said he had known British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of media magnate and former MP Robert Maxwell, since she was at university.
She introduced Andrew to her then-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein in 1999. The trio enjoyed a close friendship, even after Epstein was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute in 2008.
Andrew is alleged to have personally invited the couple to Balmoral, the Queen’s Scottish residence, in 1999.
Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022 following a New York sex-trafficking trial for procuring teen girls for Epstein for him to abuse.
Andrew continued to visit Epstein in New York after the financier’s conviction for child sex offences in 2008.
Epstein received an 18-month sentence but was allowed to go on “work release” to his office most days and was released on probation after 13 months.
Andrew faced criticism when pictures emerged of him opening the door of Epstein’s palatial East Side townhouse in December 2010 and the pair strolling through Central Park.
In his 2019 BBC interview, this is when royal claimed he had cut contact with Epstein.
2019: Virginia Giuffre sex abuse case
In 2019, Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan alleging she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with Andrew on three occasions when she was 17 and a minor under US law.
Ms Giuffre has accused Andrew of sexually abusing her on Epstein’s private island Little St James as a teenager, which the prince “unequivocally” denied.
2019: BBC Newsnight interview
Andrew was criticised for a car crash BBC Newsnight interview that aired on 16 November 2019.
During the interview, he denied he slept with Ms Giuffre, saying an encounter could not have taken place because he was at a branch of Pizza Express in Woking with his daughter Princess Beatrice.
He also said Ms Giuffre’s claim he was sweaty at a nightclub was untrue because an “overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands war” had left him unable to sweat.
The royal faced a public backlash, with equality campaigners claiming he was “too stupid to even pretend concern for Epstein’s victims”.
2019: Step back from public duties
Four days later, Andrew announced the Queen had given him permission to step back from public duties in the wake of the interview.
He said it had become clear to him in recent days that his association with Epstein had become a “major distraction” to the royal family’s work.
The royal said he regretted his association with Epstein and “deeply sympathises” with his victims.
2022: Stripped of royal titles and military affiliations
In January 2022, the Queen stripped Andrew of his military titles and royal patronages in the wake of a US judge allowing Ms Giuffre’s civil sexual abuse case against her son to move to trial.
The prince stopped using his HRH (His Royal Highness) style his roles – including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, one of the oldest regiments in the British army – were handed to other members of the royal family.
His other military titles included honorary air commodore of RAF Lossiemouth; colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Regiment; colonel-in-chief of the Small Arms School Corps; commodore-in-chief of the Fleet Air Arm; royal colonel of the Royal Highland Fusiliers; deputy colonel-in-chief of The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths’ Own); and royal colonel of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
2022: Out-of-court settlement
In March 2022, Andrew paid Ms Giuffre a multi-million-pound out-of-court settlement, meaning both sides avoided the case going to trial.
As part of the agreement, he was due to pay damages to Ms Giuffre and a donation to a charity “in support of victims’ rights”.
Andrew has faced calls to confirm how he funded settlement - which is reported to be as much as £12m - and whether the Queen or even King Charles, then Prince of Wales, contributed to the sum.
December 2024: ‘Confidante’ banned from UK over Chinese spy allegations
In December 2024, it emerged a “close confidante” of the royal lost had been barred from entering the UK because authorities felt he was likely to pose a threat to national security.
Yang Tengbo brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then-home secretary Suella Braverman said he should be excluded from the UK in March 2023.
British authorities allege the businessman was working on behalf of the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party that is used to influence foreign entities.
He is said to have twice visited the royal residence at the invitation of the King’s younger brother and was described as a “close confidante” of Andrew.
Andrew insists he “ceased all contact” with the businessman accused of being a Chinese spy when concerns were first raised about him. He met the individual through “official channels” and “nothing of a sensitive nature was ever discussed”, a statement from his office said.
January 2025: New messages reveal ties with Epstein continues for months after New York visit
Newly surfaced messages revealed the Duke of York remained in contact with Epstein until February 2011 - despite having claimed to have cut him off in December 2010.
Emails between Andrew and Epstein handed to a court in London reportedly show they were still exchanging messages until at least late February 2011, when the duke wrote: “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon.”
Messages were exchanged between the pair on the same day a photograph of Andrew with 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell - who is currently behind bars for recruiting and trafficking underage girls for Epstein - was published, Bloomberg reports.
The emails were obtained by Bloomberg after being disclosed in a filing by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), defending an appeal by former Barclays boss, Jes Staley, who is challenging its decision to ban him from the finance industry for misleading regulators on his ties to Epstein.
