Britain's Prince Andrew has been reported to the police by the campaign group Republic, following the resurfacing of sexual assault allegations in unsealed court documents. This is reported by Breakingnews.ie.
Graham Smith, the chief executive of Republic, urged London's Metropolitan Police to reopen investigations into the allegations and called for Britain's King Charles III, Andrew's brother, to publicly address the issue and answer questions from the press.
Prince Andrew, 63, previously denied the allegations and settled a civil case out of court with Virginia Giuffre, paying millions without admitting guilt. Giuffre had accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 years old. This recent turn of events marks a significant setback for Prince Andrew, who had been gradually reintegrating into the British monarchy, symbolized by his participation in Christmas Day church service with the king and the royal family, as well as his public appearance at his brother’s coronation in May.
The allegations against Prince Andrew include claims of participating in an orgy with underage girls and inappropriately touching a woman while posing with a puppet of himself. These allegations are part of the larger scandal involving billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Andrew is mentioned more than 70 times in nearly 1,000 pages of interviews and transcripts released in the US, connected to a 2015 defamation case against Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed for sex trafficking young girls for Epstein.
Graham Smith criticized the Metropolitan Police for failing to conduct a serious criminal investigation into the case, and he called for a parliamentary debate on the affair. Smith questioned the lack of response from the government and head of state, given Prince Andrew's roles as a government trade ambassador and active member of the royal family at the time of the alleged offenses.
Buckingham Palace, which no longer represents Prince Andrew after he stepped down as a working royal in 2019 due to his association with Epstein, has not commented on the newly unsealed documents.
