PRINCE Andrew went back to work yesterday in his latest attempt to weather the storm over his friendship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Duke of York, 59, returned to official duties by joining celebrations at the Dartmouth Royal Regatta in Devon.
It is the first time he has been seen in an official capacity since Epstein’s suicide in jail rekindled allegations against Andrew — including that he had sex three times with then 17-year-old Virginia Roberts.
And it caps a carefully constructed seven-day PR operation to help the prince, who strenuously denies any wrongdoing, restore his reputation.
As the scandal continues to swirl, The Sun can reveal that Andrew:
While Andrew was all smiles in public at the regatta yesterday, friends say that, away from the cameras, he has been left in “total despair” in recent days.
Battered and bruised by a stream of allegations, he sought sanctuary in Sotogrande, his lavish Andalusian golfing bolthole.
But since Epstein’s prison death on August 10, the prince — despite repeatedly protesting his innocence — has been floundering. And by last weekend, even his closest aides were worried.
A royal source close to Andrew told The Sun: “The duke is a proud man but this has brought him very low. The Epstein story has had a profound effect on him.
“He has been sitting at his desk every day wondering how this is happening to him.
“He knows he has done nothing wrong and yet until recently has felt unable to really speak out.
“The duke knows that Virginia Roberts is a vulnerable woman who has been a victim of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein.
“As a result he doesn’t feel able to publicly attack her evidence against him. He feels he is in an impossible position and not able to defend himself properly.
Meanwhile, ironically, his efforts in helping victims of sex trafficking to rebuild their lives are being wholly overlooked.
"Andrew is particularly dismayed by this. It is preying heavily on his mind.”
Since 2014, the duke has been at pains to point to his commitment to good causes. He considers his proudest achievement is Key to Freedom, founded after Andrew visited the Women’s Interlink Foundation in Kolkata, India, in 2012.
The duke knows that Virginia Roberts is a vulnerable woman who has been a victim of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein.
Royal source
One of WIF’s core aims is to help sex trafficked victims recover by teaching them new skills.
Aides claim his work, supported by ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, has meant more than 100 women have benefited by selling their work in retailers such as Topshop, Urban Outfitters and Hobbs.
Aloka Mitra, WIF’s founder, said: “I remember getting a call from the British deputy high commissioner Sanjay Wadhwani in 2012, who asked me if we would like to host the Duke of York for an hour.
“When I met him at the evening function, he asked me what were the three things I worried about when I went to sleep at night.
“He turned to his secretary and asked her if they could help. Thanks to the royal connection, Topshop gave us a project and we’ve been with them five years.”
There is also iDEA, the Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award, founded in 2014 to support digital skills training for those aged eight to 80.
Officials say 400,000 people, including those at school and in the Armed Forces, have completed 2.7million training awards.
Another is Pitch@Palace, which claims to have created nearly 6,000 jobs and generated £1.1million in economic activity.
But all this is being overshadowed by the Epstein scandal.
In a 2015 lawsuit, Virginia claimed she had sex with Andrew at age 17 during a visit to London with Epstein and socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
She also alleged she slept with the duke in New York and the Caribbean while being kept as a sex slave by the US financier.
On Tuesday, Virginia, now 36, raised the stakes in an emotional statement after a New York court dismissed charges against Epstein.
She said the duke knew “exactly what he has done” and urged him to “come clean”.
Her comments lit the royal blue touchpaper, with Andrew’s camp issuing an extraordinary response.
In contrast to the brusque and carefully worded denial given a few days earlier, this was dynamite.
Within hours, friends of the duke had condemned Virginia’s claims as “categorically untrue”, insisting they were riddled with “so many inconsistencies”.
They cast doubt on an infamous 2001 photo of the pair together, heavily hinting it may have been edited or even faked.
One friend even claimed Andrew’s “chubby fingers” did not match those shown in the picture.
For many, the bold briefing marked a shuddering change of direction by the royal camp after weeks of awkward silence.
It was also at odds with Buckingham Palace’s long-held mantra of “never complain, never explain”.
So why the screeching U-turn? And how did the unprecedented operation to salvage the duke’s reputation seven days ago come about?
After all, less than 11 months ago, Andrew’s scandals seemed firmly behind him. Having quit his role as UK trade envoy in 2011 over the Epstein scandal, he was asked to head a trade delegation to China in early November 2018.
Weeks earlier, the world had watched his youngest daughter, Eugenie, wed to a global fanfare. But the goodwill soon ebbed away.
On November 29, the Miami Herald revealed its year-long investigation into Epstein’s offending.
Virginia told the paper Andrew “would get it in the end” because women were finally finding the courage to speak out.
At the time, a Buckingham Palace spokesman tersely said: “It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts.”
But since then, wave after wave of new claims have surfaced. And when Epstein was arrested last month over new sex trafficking offences, pressure on Andrew ramped up several notches.
Dogged US prosecutors and victims’ attorneys were determined to hunt down every shred of evidence.
As another royal source said: “Andrew had spent almost seven years rebuilding his reputation since the Epstein story first broke.
“He has done a huge amount of fantastic work with charities and the digital economy and legitimately thought he’d moved on.
“Then, suddenly, to his absolute horror, the Epstein case was thrown wide open again.”
Then, on August 10, prison guards found Epstein dead in his prison cell. But it did nothing to draw a line under the scandal.
Instead, the source added: “It has just fanned the flames.
“If anything it’s worse for Andrew because at least if there had been a full court process he might have been ultimately able to fully demonstrate his own innocence.
“Now there is just a lot of mud being slung.
“The problem with that is mud sticks, so the view was taken there had to be a fightback.”
Andrew had spent almost seven years rebuilding his reputation since the Epstein story first broke.
Royal source
His daughters were left “bewildered and upset” by the storm with Eugenie forced to put back an anti-slavery charity podcast.
By last weekend, Andrew’s aides decided to take the bold step of no longer relying on Buckingham Palace’s press machine.
Instead, the duke has increasingly sought the advice of public relations guru James Henderson, a long-standing friend of his ex-wife and a guest at Eugenie’s wedding.
In September 2017, Mr Henderson, 54, quit as CEO of PR giant Bell Pottinger, which had been accused of inciting racial hatred in South Africa and went bust shortly after.
A source said: “The Buckingham Palace press office has tried to contain things and defend Andrew as best they could. But there is a view within Andrew’s camp that this hasn’t worked.
"James has been a close friend of Fergie for years. The sudden switch of direction and lengthy briefing last week had his stamp all over it.”
The fightback, it seems, has begun.
GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk
6,000.000+downloads/Free/Bengali/Version2.3.4
777 BDT IPL 2025 Sports First Deposit Bonus
