prince andrew
© East News / Justin Sutcliffe
The UK's Prince Andrew says he has no memory of meeting an accuser of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who says she was coerced into sex with him while underage, despite seemingly appearing alongside her in a 2001 photo.

While Andrew says he regrets spending time with the New York financier after he had been implicated in sex trafficking, the prince insisted in an interview with the BBC he did not recall ever meeting Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was forced into sex with Andrew between 1999 and 2002, during the time she says Epstein kept her as a "slave."
I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.

In spite of the denial, a photo reportedly taken in 2001 appears to show the prince with Giuffre, arm wrapped around her bare waist, inside the London home of Epstein's then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

Though the royal palace was in no hurry to officially address the photo, anonymous supporters of Andrew told the Telegraph in August that the image is "a fake," however Giuffre insists that is merely an excuse.


"This photo has been verified as an original and it's been since given to the FBI and they've never contested that it's a fake," she told '60 Minutes' earlier this month. "This is a real photo. That's the very first time I met him.
"He needs to stop with all of these lame excuses. We're sick of hearing it.
On his decision to stay with Epstein even after his sex trafficking conviction in 2008, Andrew says he now sees it was a poor choice, not befitting of royalty.
I stayed with him and that's...that's...that's the bit that...that...that, as it were, I kick myself for on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side down, simple as that.