Prince Andrew is ready to flee Britain to escape further shame and humiliation in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, according to his biographer. Royal author Nigel Cawthorne said last night: “He knows he isn’t wanted here. Even his own family no longer wants to be seen with him. I think the only choice he has left is self-imposed exile.
“His one option left is to find a friendly country where he can live out the rest of his days in comparative peace and safety. “He’s finally reached the very end of the road here at home.”
Mr Cawthorne’s bleak view of Andrew’s future comes a day after the prince relinquished all of his remaining royal titles – including Duke of York – and stepped down from membership of the Order of the Garter, the country’s most ancient order of chivalry.
Andrew, 65, who will forever remain a prince as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s son, publicly fell on his own sword just four days before Tuesday’s worldwide publication of the 400-page memoir Nobody’s Child written by late Epstein “sex slave” Virginia Giuffre.
His decision, which also means his former wife loses her Duchess of York title and becomes plain Sarah Ferguson, followed “discussion with the King, and my immediate and wider family,” he said in a statement.
Last night the royal author said: “He’s now reached the point of no return, but I believe Fergie will stick with him, as she has all these years despite their divorce.
“But I think there would be public uproar if they were to even try to remain in their current home Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.”
One possibility of at least a temporary refuge, he added, is the luxury Portuguese villa owned by their youngest daughter Princess Eugenie and her businessman husband Jack Brooksbank.
Mr Cawthorne added he believes there will now be renewed demands for Scotland Yard to instigate a “belated investigation” into Andrew’s ties to billionaire paedophile Epstein, who was found hanged in a New York prison cell while awaiting trial in August 2019.
The prince is now facing a fresh probe in America, where his legal team paid a reported £12million settlement to Ms Giuffre – who took her own life in April at her home in Australia – after she sued him in a civil case in February 2022.
When the US government – currently on shutdown – reopens, Congress will vote on bipartisan bill number H.R. 4405 that, if passed, would compel the Department of Justice to release its entire files on the FBI investigation into Epstein.
Last month, after meeting with sex trafficking victims of the former Wall Street financier, Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace grimly declared: “A cold, dark cell. Prince Andrew in handcuffs. This is an image sending the right message.
“No-one is above the law, victims deserve justice and Americans deserve confidence our system works as it was intended.”
Yesterday, in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express, attorney Spencer Kuvin, whose Florida law firm represents nine Epstein victims, described Virginia’s bombshell book as “the final nail in Andrew’s coffin.”
He added: “The world is going to see a much more detailed account of the occasions on which she says she was sex-trafficked to him as a minor and he is going to have nowhere to hide any more.”
The prince has always maintained his innocence and his Friday statement ended with the words: “As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
Mr Kuvin said: “Whatever the book says and, more importantly for Andrew, whatever Congress eventually decides, I don’t think the US government would go so far as to seek to extradite Andrew to face trial here.
“That would ignite a diplomatic dispute nobody wants on either side of the Atlantic.
“But there’s a reason Andrew hasn’t travelled to America for years because of his association with Epstein.
“He knows he could be arrested if he sets foot on US soil. I think this case has already destroyed him and he’s not wanted on either side of the Atlantic.”
