Donald Trump says Andrew’s exile over Epstein is ‘tragic’ for Royal Family

Donald Trump said the Royal Family has been through a ‘tragic situation’ with its handling of commoner Andrew Windsor and his past with Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Windsor was stripped of his peerages and his titles, including those of Prince and Duke of York, last week after a decision taken by his brother the King.

The US President has faced his own form of pressure over his links with convicted child sex offender Epstein recently.

Asked about the King’s decision by reporters on Air Force One late yesterday, Trump said: ‘It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the [Royal] Family.

‘That’s been a tragic situation. It’s too bad. I feel badly for the family.’

Despite a long and well-documented friendship with Epstein, Trump has largely avoided the same scale of public punishment as the former prince.

He has previously said he stopped talking to the late financier around 2004, and barred him from the Mar-a-Lago club near Miami in 2007.

Mr Windsor, however, is known to have stayed in touch with Epstein beyond his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution with a minor.

Scrutiny of the ex-royal has only grown in the years since his disastrous Newsnight interview, and reached new levels last month with the release of Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir.

The announcement from the King last Thursday came amid reports about Mr Windsor’s living arrangements at the Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate, where he paid only a peppercorn rent.

Yesterday, Defence Secretary John Healey said the former Duke of York would be stripped of his last remaining honorary military title, the rank of vice-admiral which he was awarded in 2015.

Healey told the BBC: ‘This is a move that’s right, it’s a move the King has indicated we should take and we’re working on that at the moment.’

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