Prince Andrew, the Duke of York and the son of Queen Elizabeth II,
on Thursday refused to step aside from all public duties by staying at the helm of an initiative set up at Buckingham Palace that allows him to make money out of tech deals.
The Duke, who founded Pitch@Palace, which matches investors with start-up tech companies, is expected to host an event at St James’s Palace next month, although a planned trip to Bahrain for a Pitch@Palace event was cancelled on Thursday night amid the furore.
Amanda Thirsk, the Duke’s fiercely loyal and closest aide, was reportedly dismissed on the orders of the Queen.
The company hosts events at Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace, and even uses soldiers from the Household regiment as part of the theatrical staging of Pitch@Palace events.
Pitch@Palace’s major sponsors – including Barclays – are furious that the Duke declined to resign, while other backers including KPMG, Standard Chartered and Bosch have already pulled out of funding the enterprise.
Mark Eavis, a director of Pitch@Palace who runs an advertising agency, quit his role on Tuesday, three days after the Duke’s catastrophic Newsnight interview that prompted his withdrawal from public duties.
In a series of further developments on Thursday, the Outward Bound Trust, one of Britain’s biggest youth charities, said the Duke had resigned as patron. Huddersfield University announced he had stepped down as chancellor.
Background:
The British royal family rarely give interviews, and watching Prince Andrew defend himself against allegations of underage sex and associating with a known paedophile, it became very clear why.
The Duke of York, known by some in the past as the party prince, has become a central figure in the scandal surrounding dead paedophile Jeffery Epstein. The Queen’s second son was a friend to Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, stayed as a guest in a number of Epstein’s many houses, and a woman claims she was forced to have sex with His Royal Highness when she was just 17.
There are also allegations of foot massages from beauties from Europe and Russia, and trips to sex islands on a private jet - it’s a very long list.
Andrew denies any wrongdoing at all, but the string of accusations are so serious he clearly felt the need to ignore all sane PR advice and go on the BBC to clear his name.
Despite a widely circulated photo that appears to show Andrew with Giuffre, arm wrapped around her bare waist, the prince insisted in the interview that he has 「no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.」 At the same time he remembers 「weirdly distinctly」 how he took his daughter to Pizza Express and spent rest of the night at home on the day the accuser claims they had sex. Such a selective memory triggered much skepticism online, especially when he went on to challenge very specific details of the accuser’s claims, who recalled him 「profusely sweating」 and 「pouring with perspiration」 when they danced one night.
Source:
[1]: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/prince-andrew-refuses-to-give-up-pitch-at-palace-as-it-emerges-he-can-take-a-cut-of-every-deal/ar-BBX8Vqw?ocid=spartanntp
[2]: https://www.rt.com/op-ed/474015-prince-andrews-disastrous-epstein-denial/
[3]: https://www.rt.com/uk/473635-prince-andrew-epstein-pizza-sweat-memes/
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