The Duke of York, better known as Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, struggled to defend himself during a minute interview with the BBC as he talked about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier accused of sex trafficking. His interview, widely criticized in the British press as disastrous after it was broadcast last weekend, catapulted a long-simmering controversy into a full-blown scandal for the royal family, among the worst in its modern history.
Reacting to the backlash, the prince announced on Wednesday that he was indefinitely stepping away from public life, with permission from the queen. But over the past century, a number of scandals have rattled the British royal family. Epstein , whom he met in , has been under scrutiny for years.
In the BBC interview, the prince said he had attended dinner parties in which Mr. Epstein at the time. In , Mr. Epstein pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting prostitution, and served 13 months in a Florida county jail under a widely criticized plea deal.
After his release in , Prince Andrew stayed at Mr. In August, Mr. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail. One of his accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre , said that Mr. Epstein had trafficked her to Prince Andrew, and that the prince had sex with her three times, an accusation that he denies.
As pressure mounted, the prince agreed to the BBC interview. Businesses and organizations associated with the prince quickly distanced themselves from him.
