Prince Andrew flew on paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet four times, documents released in the US show.
The published flight logs came just hours after Andrew announced he is relinquishing his remaining royal titles after a fresh wave of controversy over the Epstein scandal.
Andrew made the decision in close consultation with both King Charles and the Prince of Wales, with the monarch said to be ‘glad’ at the outcome.
The King has been facing the ongoing problem of what to do with his disgraced younger brother since the start of his reign, and heir to the throne William is always believed to have wanted to take a decisive line on the matter.
The family of Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre say the news ‘vindicates’ her, with brother Sky Roberts telling BBC Newsnight she was a ‘truth teller from the beginning’.
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Andrew is listed on flight logs as having flown from Luton to Edinburgh on September 1, 2006, with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as a flight from May 12, 2000, where he is named as travelling with Epstein, Maxwell, celebrity chef Adam Perry Lang, a bodyguard and three others.
Two further flights from 1999 also displayed the name ‘Prince Andrew’, alongside royal protection officer Steve Burgess.
The wife of disgraced ex-New Jersey senator Bob Menendez, Gwendolyn Beck and a woman named Claire Hazel are also listed on one of the 1999 flights – with Epstein and Maxwell travelling on both.
The flight carrying Ms Beck and Ms Hazel was travelling from the US Virgin Islands to Palm Beach, Florida, on February 12, with the other flight travelling from Teterboro, New Jersey to the US Virgin Islands on February 9.
The logs have surfaced after the US House Oversight Committee published hundreds of further documents from Epstein’s estate on Friday.
Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial previously threw Andrew’s name into the spotlight by naming him as a passenger on Epstein’s jet – with one of the disgraced British socialite’s accusers saying she also flew with the prince in the mid-1990s.
One of the jet’s pilots, Larry Visoski, told the trial that Andrew flew on the aircraft a ‘number of times’.
Is Andrew still a prince?
Andrew will remain a prince, which he has been entitled to since birth, and is still eighth in line of succession, and the change will not affect his daughters, who will remain Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
Sarah Ferguson, who split from the duke more than 30 years ago but remained one of his greatest supporters and still shares his Royal Lodge home, will, however, revert to her maiden name of Ferguson, losing her courtesy royal divorcee title Sarah, Duchess of York.
It was also confirmed that Andrew will no longer join the King and the rest of the royal family at Christmas at Sandringham, which prevents him from strolling to church on Christmas Day in full public view, greeting wellwishers.
And he will no longer act as a Royal Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter, meaning he will not be able to take part in the annual Garter service inside Windsor Castle each June, having previously been banned from the outdoor procession.
He will also not be able to wear the Garter robes he was seen in at Charles’s coronation.
The move further shunts Andrew into the royal wilderness – and removes opportunity for him to be seen publicly alongside the King, William and the rest of the royal family.
What did Virginia Giuffre say about Prince Andrew?
The statement was released on Friday evening, just four days before the publication of a memoir by Andrew’s late alleged victim, Ms Giuffre, to whom he paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case despite claiming never to have met her.
Ms Giuffre alleges she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17, after being trafficked by convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
She said in her memoir that Andrew acted as if sex with her was his ‘birthright’.
Mr Roberts added he would ‘welcome’ contact with the UK Parliament or the King, offering to ‘present the evidence that we believe is available to continue her voice’.
‘I think it’s so important for the world to know how much of a hero she was, but how much is still left that the stone is still left unturned to some degree,’ he said.
‘This is just one step of many.’
The former duke used the statement about relinquishing his title to insist claims against him were untrue, saying: ‘As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.
‘In discussion with the King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.’
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