Buckingham Palace has forcefully denied allegations made by a woman in a Florida court case that Prince Andrew – younger brother of heir to the throne Prince Charles – had sex with a woman when she was a teen.
The accusations about Andrew, the Duke of York, were made by a woman in a motion filed in a Florida court against financier Jeffrey Epstein. In the motion, the woman, identified as Jane Doe 3, says Epstein used her and other underage girls as a “sex slaves.” She alleges that she was a minor when Epstein forced her to have sex with the prince between 1999 and 2002, according to the BBC.
"This relates to long-standing and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which The Duke of York is not a party,” a spokesman for Buckingham Palace told ABC News. “As such we would not comment on the detail. However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue."
The prince has had a close relationship with Epstein who has faced multiple allegations of sex with minors and in 2008 pleaded guilty to soliciting sex with a minor, serving 13 months in prison. Epstein and Prince Andrew were photographed walking together after Epstein was released.
Prince Andrew had been given the role of trade envoy for the UK to promote British businesses abroad but was forced to give it up in 2011 in part due to his relationship with Epstein, according British news reports at the time.
“His friendship with Jeffrey Epstein has caused lot of controversy over the years but these are the most explosive allegations to come out,” said ABC News Royal Contributor Victoria Murphy. “The fact that [the Palace has] issued the statement shows that they want to be quick to shut this down.”