LONDON (TheBlaze/AP) — Buckingham Palace has stepped up efforts to defend Prince Andrew after the British royal was embroiled in claims of sexual impropriety with an underage woman.
The defense comes as some media outlets are claiming Andrew may have been filmed participating in heinous acts.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, gestures during a speech on June 04, 2014 in Hanover, Germany. The British royal is facing allegations of sexually abuse. (Alexander Koerner/Getty Images)
In a second statement since the claims surfaced, officials "emphatically denied" that the 54-year-old Andrew had "any form of sexual contact or relationship" with a woman who claimed that she was forced to have sex with the royal in London, in New York and on a private Caribbean island when she was under the age of 18.
Buckingham Palace on Sunday dismissed the claims as "false and without any foundation."
The claims, made in a filing to a Florida court last week, were submitted as part of a lengthy lawsuit against American financier Jeffrey Epstein. The woman wasn't identified by name.
British outlet the Mirror reported Saturday that among the allegations against Epstein, apparently a close friend of Andrew, is the contention that Epstein secretly recorded debauched goings-on at his swanky residences — meaning if Andrew did abuse the woman as she claims, there may be recorded proof of the abuse.
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