Epstein files reignite questions over Prince Andrew (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Fresh revelations about the former Prince Andrew have been found in the huge batch of Epstein files released last week. Among them is an email, apparently from Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, which appears to contradict Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's long-held suggestion that the now infamous photo of him with a victim, Virginia Dufresne, was not real. There are also new allegations about what went on at Epstein's Florida home 20 years ago. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing. Here's Ellie Price, and a warning, her report contains some fairly explicit details.

[00:00:34] Speaker 2: This is the image that marked the start of the slow downfall of a prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, with his accuser, Virginia Dufresne, when she was 17.

[00:00:45] Speaker 3: I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. None whatsoever.

[00:00:50] Speaker 2: But he did meet her, and according to an email from Ghislaine Maxwell to Jeffrey Epstein, she wanted to state for the record as fact, in 2001 she was in London and met a number of friends, including the former prince, and that's when the photo was taken. But now fresh damaging revelations, this time a legal letter which claims Epstein offered to pay an exotic dancer to perform at a party in 2006. Where there were young women dressed provocatively, some appeared to be as young as 14 years old. It says Epstein and the then Prince Andrew told the dancer they wanted to have a threesome, and then prevailed upon her to engage in various sex acts. The BBC has approached Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for comment, he has previously strenuously denied any wrongdoing. It's all added to calls for him to testify in the US about what he knew about Epstein.

[00:01:42] Speaker 3: I am so proud of the woman who has come forward, because it helps so many of us, when survivors come forward, to hold these men accountable. The survivors are really the foundation of it, without us nothing is going to happen. So I do hope that Andrew will testify, I do hope he will come to the US and testify.

[00:02:10] Speaker 2: Buckingham Palace has previously said that's a matter for him and his conscience, but if a picture paints a thousand words, there have been just too many pictures for the palace to bear. These, recently released in the Epstein files, show the King's brother crouching on all fours over an unidentified woman. And then these, the former prince out riding in the grounds near his Windsor mansion, and later waving at passers-by on Monday. He's had to move into temporary digs there, Wood Farm, while renovations are completed on his new, more modest home, Marsh Farm. On the King's private estate, he may be out of the public eye, but the public humiliation may keep coming. Ellie Price, BBC News.

[00:02:52] Speaker 1: Well, Ellie is here in the studio with me, and Ellie, I guess, you know, the royal family are thinking or hoping that he's moved out of Royal Lodge, and therefore he can now move out of the public eye and people can start moving on. How realistic is that assumption?

[00:03:07] Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I think relatively realistic for them, and I suppose we'll see less of him. He had all those photos taken, as you saw in my piece there, where he's out riding his horse, he was out waving at people in his car. This is a far more secluded estate. It's a private estate owned by the King. I think there's a sense that there'll be a slightly more controllable environment, and therefore the photographer's lenses won't be prying quite so much, or at least they won't be able to. But he was becoming something of a liability because he kept appearing, not only in public, but also in these files. Now, these files are going to keep coming. Obviously he's not in all of them, and we don't know how many he's in. That's sort of the point. But I think there is a sense from Buckingham Palace that he needed to move. We knew when he lost his titles back in October that he was going to move house. We just didn't know when, and I think we can probably surmise by the fact that the residence isn't quite ready yet, that this was brought forward earlier than it would have been.

[00:04:01] Speaker 1: And in terms of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and those files, can we ever expect Andrew McBadden-Windsor to appear before some sort of justice court or committee in the US?

[00:04:13] Speaker 2: Well, that's certainly obviously what victims are calling for, as again you saw in the report there. And obviously efforts were made back in the early 2020s for that to happen. The option was given for him to voluntarily go and testify. That never quite happened. Obviously then COVID happened, and there's no jurisdiction of a US court to call him. So it is very much, as Buckingham Palace said previously, on his conscience. Quite whether he does go remains to be seen, but obviously there is this pressure ongoing with every revelation that comes out almost on a daily basis. Of course, I should reiterate, he does continuously, strenuously deny any wrongdoing. And just by associating with Epstein, he would argue there's not necessarily any sign of wrongdoing. But clearly the pressure remains.

[00:05:00] Speaker 1: And there's that photo of the former Prince Andrew with Virginia Dufresne that you mentioned in your piece as well, where he is seen with her. And the emails from G Maxwell apparently appear to suggest this photo is real, because he said in an interview, didn't he, with the BBC, that the photo was fake.

[00:05:20] Speaker 2: The photo, quite iconic, isn't it, really? It was almost the start of his downfall that he was standing there with his accuser, the 17-year-old Virginia Dufresne. And he said at the time, or he said subsequently, that he had no recollection of the photo being taken. He even suggested that the photo may have been doctored. And yet we had this email in 2015 from Ghislaine Maxwell to Geoffrey Epstein, which was titled draft statement, where it appeared she was planning to make some kind of setting the record straight statement. She appears to say that the photo was indeed taken and it was taken when he visited her friends in London. OK, Ellie, great to talk to you. Thank you so much.