Grinning Prince Andrew made a defiant public display just hours after the Mirror published a picture of him partying with paedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump .
The Duke of York, who has snubbed calls to reveal what he knew about the depraved financier, was snapped smiling yesterday at the exclusive in Devon.
But the storm over his friendship with Epstein, who died in custody last month, looks set to deepen as US lawyers have now threatened legal action to force him to testify under oath.
And the man who took the photos of Andrew at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2000 – which was revealed in a on Friday – told how Andrew’s presence created a “buzz” the likes of which had never been seen before.
Palm Beach-based Daryl Davidoff, 62, and his late father Bob were Mr Trump’s personal photographers for over a decade. He said: “Trump had hosted the richest, most powerful men and women in Palm Beach. But to have a royal, the Queen’s son, at Mar-a-Lago was another level.
“There was a huge buzz. I attended loads of events but I definitely remembered that one because I got to photograph a royal.”
Our image showed Andrew at the Florida party with Epstein, the tycoon’s then-lover Ghislaine Maxwell and Mr Trump and then-girlfriend Melania. But Epstein is staring creepily in the background while everyone else laughs and chats.
Daryl said the billionaire’s appearance was one of only a handful events he ever saw him at. He said: “Epstein wasn’t a big deal then, nor was Ghislaine. I knew who they were but it wasn’t like everyone was excited to see them. He wasn’t a player in town.
“Jeffrey was pretty low-key. He didn’t fit into the old-money, wealthy Palm Beach types.
"Mar-a-Lago wasn’t his thing. He kept to himself, which considering what was apparently going on now makes perfect sense. I had no idea he was into young girls.
“On the night in question, Andrew was perfectly happy to be photographed. But Epstein was glaring in the background, which you can see in the image, which I thought was odd.
“Andrew was pretty low-key, especially when you compare him to the usual loud, rich Palm Beachers.”
Daryl also claimed Mr Trump regularly invited “pretty” workers from nearby clubs to his seafront complex.
He said: “He’d get them from the t*tty bars. They were stunning women, all adults, who Trump liked to surround himself with at Mar-a-Lago.
“Epstein never seemed that interested, which with hindsight was probably because they were too old for him.”
Andrew was the guest of honour at the Saturday night gala, hosted by the future President as part of a tennis event to raise cash for a cancer charity. Other guests included singer Michael Bolton and actor Stephen Baldwin.
The bash came just months before Epstein began abusing schoolgirl Virginia Roberts. She started working at the club as a changing room assistant in 2000 and has claimed Maxwell approached her about giving massages to rich men.
She claimed Epstein later lent her out to prominent figures, including Andrew. Roberts claimed to have had sex with the Prince on three occasions, in London, Palm Beach and the US Virgin Islands – which he denies.
The FBI has seized a photo showing the Duke with Roberts in 2001, aged 17. Sources suggested it was doctored and said aides asked to see the original. But it emerged FBI agents took the snap from her, along with 19 others, in 2011.
Roberts, now known as Giuffre, was in a New York court earlier this week with other alleged Epstein victims and said of Andrew: “He knows what he’s done. I hope he comes clean about it.”
David Boies, chair of a New York law firm, said “there is too much evidence” linking the royal to Epstein and he is “continuing to delay and obfuscate”.
Mr Boies said he has asked to interview the Prince and is willing to travel here – but if this does not happen, he would consider a lawsuit to pressure Andrew to give evidence under oath.
Andrew entertained Epstein and his pals at palaces when they were in the UK and enjoyed private visits with him in New York, London and on his private Caribbean island.
The Duke embarrassed Buckingham Palace when he was snapped walking in New York’s Central Park with Epstein in 2010, after his jail release.
And recently, footage from a day later has emerged, showing the Prince at Epstein’s nine-storey Manhattan home – known as the House of Horrors. Roberts has alleged the Duke groped her during a visit to the £70million pile – which Epstein filled with bizarre decor, including prosthetic breasts in the wall by his bath.
A source from Epstein’s parties claims Andrew was a “draw”, saying: “Jeffrey knew what he was doing. Royalty is stardust. People held their noses after he was convicted but were not going to turn down the chance to mingle with royalty.”
Epstein’s pilot has also claimed Andrew flew on the fiend’s personal jet, dubbed the Lolita Express, and some flights were made with Roberts.
Maxwell was allegedly Epstein’s “madam” and Roberts said on oath in a 2015 court case that she “recruited” her for sex aged 15.
Selby Patrick, whose twin sister Skye was an alleged victim and died in 2017, has claimed: “It was Ghislaine who recruited Skye’s friends into his world. One wanted to be a model and Ghislaine made her believe they’d launch her to stardom. It was the girl who took Skye to Epstein’s house.
“The life was hard to resist. Skye said Ghislaine was so sophisticated. But she was lowering them into the trap.”
Most of Epstein’s victims were from the Palm Beach and West Palm Beach area of Florida, where he had a mansion.
Earlier this month, it emerged three more women had filed lawsuits against the pervert’s estate.
One claims he forcibly used a sex toy on her and another that he took her passport, stranding her on his island.
Andrew, 59, and Maxwell, 57, the daughter of the late, disgraced press baron Robert Maxwell, both strenuously deny any wrongdoing.
A US judge previously threw out Roberts’ allegations against the Duke as “immaterial and impertinent”.
In a statement last week, Andrew expressed “tremendous sympathy” for Epstein’s victims and admitted it was a “mistake” to continue their friendship when he was released from prison after his child sex conviction.
Epstein was jailed in 2008 after pleaded guilty to state charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution. Under a controversial plea deal he got just 18 months.
At the time of his death by apparent suicide, aged 66, he was awaiting trial on charges of child sex trafficking.
