ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – US President Donald Trump on Nov 2 said he felt “badly” for the British royal family after King Charles revoked his brother Andrew’s title of prince over his scandalous ties to late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the family,” Mr Trump said when asked by an AFP reporter aboard Air Force One about the recent saga.
“That’s been a tragic situation, and it’s too bad. I mean, I feel badly for the family.”
The US leader’s comments come after King Charles took the extraordinary step of
removing all his younger brother’s remaining royal titles and honours
last week amid growing anger in Britain over Andrew’s ties to Epstein. The former prince Andrew is now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
On Nov 2, the British government also said it would move to strip Andrew of his honorary title of vice-admiral,
his last remaining military rank.
Andrew was previously stripped of his honorary military titles by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, in 2022 after he was sued by Virginia Giuffre, US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s main accuser.
Defence minister John Healey told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg programme that the government would also be guided by the king on whether Andrew should lose his military medals.
The king’s younger brother was once feted for his role as a Royal Navy helicopter pilot in the 1982 Falklands War. He retired in 2001 after 22 years of service.
Andrew has always denied that he sexually abused Ms Giuffre, who said in her posthumous memoir published in October that she was trafficked to have sex with him on three occasions, twice when she was just 17.
But on Oct 30, Buckingham Palace said in a fiercely-worded statement that “Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor” adding “these censures are deemed necessary” despite his denial.
The king and queen also said their “utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse,” it added.
A friend of the king and Queen Camilla told British daily the Sunday Times: “That was extraordinary. That’s the closest you’ll get to the king and his court passing judgment on his brother.”
British media reported Andrew had refused to sign off on any statements which referenced the victims since his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview in 2019 in which he defended his ties to Epstein and showed no empathy for women involved.
“There has long been a sense from the family that the voices of the victims needed to be heard,” another friend told the Sunday Times.
Camilla has long campaigned for the victims of abuse, and there were growing fears among the royal family of the reputational damage of the scandal.
In an email released among court documents on Oct 30 in the US, Andrew wrote to Epstein in 2010 after his release from jail for prostituting minors that he was planning a trip to New York as it would be “good to catch up in person”. AFP
King CharlesDonald TrumpSex offencesRoyal families