Queen Elizabeth II pulled the plug on Prince Andrew’s birthday bash as his connection to Jeffrey Epstein continues to embarrass the royal family.
The prince was set to have a birthday bash at Buckingham Palace to celebrate his 60th birthday in February, but his mother has canceled the celebration in the wake of his controversial interview with BBC, according to The Times.
During the interview, Andrew denied that he knew Epstein’s accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who accused the Duke of York of raping her while she was trapped in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring. Photographs of Giuffre and Andrew prove that the two had met, but he claimed he would have remembered the encounter if it were sexual.
“And without putting too fine a point on it, if you’re a man, it is a positive act to have sex with somebody,” Andrew said to BBC. “You have to take some sort of positive action, and so, therefore, if you try to forget, it’s very difficult to try and forget a positive action, and I do not remember anything.”
The remarks resulted in Andrew being asked to take a step back from his royal duties and getting the boot from his offices at the Palace, reportedly at the request of his nephew Prince William.
Andrew’s birthday is not until Feb. 19, but the Queen has made up her mind to stop the shindig already. Instead, she will only host a small family dinner, rather than the charity event that had been in the works.
Elizabeth II, 93, was said to have been “deeply frustrated” with Andrew’s BBC interview as she had not agreed to the terms beforehand.
The Duke of York admitted that he knew Epstein but has maintained that he did not know of or participate in any of the crimes the financier has been accused of. Andrew said he would participate in the FBI’s investigation into Epstein if his attorneys agree. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell of an apparent suicide while he was awaiting trial in August.
