Donald Trump says he felt badly for the British royal family after King Charles stripped his brother Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his title as prince amid mounting pressure over Andrew’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the family,” the US President told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday after he was asked about King Charles’s action.
“That’s been a tragic situation and it’s too bad. I mean, I feel badly for the family.”
Buckingham Palace on Thursday announced that Charles had stripped Mr Mountbatten Windsor, 65, of his title of prince and forced him out of his Windsor home, seeking to distance the royal family from him over his links to the Epstein scandal.
It was one of the most dramatic moves against a member of the royal family in modern British history.
Buckingham Palace said the censures against the former prince were “deemed necessary, not withstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him”.
“Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse,” it said in a statement.
Along with losing his royal titles, Mr Mountbatten Windsor will also be removed from the Royal Lodge on the grounds of the Windsor Estate.
Buckingham Palace said he would need to surrender the lease of his 30-room mansion — which he rented from the Crown in 2003 — and move to private accommodation.
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor no longer has any royal titles or honours. (Reuters: Toby Melville)
Epstein, his accomplice and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and film producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein were photographed together visiting the lodge in 2006 as guests for Princess Beatrice’s masked ball 18th birthday celebrations.
Mr Mountbatten Windsor will reportedly be relocating to Sandringham Estate, which is privately funded by the King.
Earlier in October, the 65-year-old also gave up his Duke of York title, saying the “continued accusations” against him “distract from the work” of the British royal family.
In the weeks leading up to Mr Mountbatten Windsor’s title removal, emails emerged showing he had remained in contact with Epstein longer than he previously admitted.
That was preceded by the publication of the posthumous memoir of Virginia Roberts Giuffre — one of Epstein’s victims — Nobody’s Girl, which detailed three alleged sexual encounters with the former prince.
Ms Roberts Giuffre had for years alleged Epstein forced her to have sex with Mr Mountbatten Windsor at a London apartment in 2001 when she was 17.
Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001. (Supplied)
The former prince has long denied the claims, but paid millions in an out-of-court settlement in 2022 after acknowledging her suffering as a victim of sex trafficking.
Last month’s memoir saw Ms Roberts Giuffre allege that the 65-year-old acted as if he believed “having sex with me was his birthright”.
Ms Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide in April aged 41, was one of hundreds of women and girls who accused Epstein of abusing them.
Mr Trump, a one-time friend of Epstein’s, has faced his own woes related to the disgraced financier’s downfall, with Democrats — and some Republicans — demanding that his administration release government files related to the Epstein case.
While acknowledging he knew Epstein socially years ago, Mr Trump has said he had a falling out with him long before Epstein’s 2019 death in jail while awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing multiple teenage girls.
In September, Democrats in the US House of Representatives made public a birthday note Mr Trump purportedly wrote to Epstein more than 20 years ago, as part of a suite of other documents from Epstein’s estate which shed light on his friendships with some of the world’s wealthiest men.
The letter, whose authenticity the White House denies, includes the line, “May every day be another wonderful secret” alongside the drawing of a naked woman.
Mr Trump labelled the letter “false, malicious, and defamatory”.
The US president has also distanced himself from the allegations about his relationship with Epstein, saying the pair fell out because the financier “stole” young women, including Ms Roberts Giuffre, from Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
ABC/Reuters
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