Epstein storm sweeps UK's ex-prince from his royal mansion

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LONDON - Britain's former prince Andrew has moved out of his sprawling home on the royal Windsor estate, it emerged Wednesday, after newly released documents reignited the scandal over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The younger brother of King Charles III faces renewed pressure to explain his close ties to the American financier after the US Justice Department released a new batch of documents.

Andrew, 65, who has strenuously denied any wrongdoing, left his Royal Lodge mansion earlier than had been planned, the BBC reported.

His departure from his home of two decades came under the cover of darkness on Monday after the latest revelations triggered further concern for the royal family, The Sun daily added.

Despite the furore, Andrew has been frequently pictured out and about on the Windsor estate, which for some time he had stubbornly refused to leave.

"The sight of him plastered on the front pages, out riding his horse or driving in his car... amid the continued dripping poison of the Epstein files was just too much," a royal source told the Daily Mail.

"He had to be removed from the public eye," the source added.

Andrew is said now to be living at Wood Farm, the former residence of his late father, Prince Philip, on the king's private estate in Sandringham, eastern England.

AFP understands there may be trips back to Windsor as the move is completed.

The move comes as a second alleged Epstein victim claimed through her lawyer that the late US financier had sent her to Britain in 2010 to have sex with Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, at the 30-room Royal Lodge.

Thames Valley Police told AFP "any new information about any such offences will be assessed in line with our established procedures".

A lawyer's letter in the DOJ cache also alleged that Andrew and Epstein pressured a woman hired as an exotic dancer for sex as part of a threesome in 2006.

"At his home, Mr Epstein introduced my client to his guest, Prince Andrew... Mr Epstein and Prince Andrew then told my client they wanted to have a threesome.... and they prevailed upon her to engage in various sex acts," the lawyer said in his letter.

Stripped of royal titles

Several high-profile figures, including politicians and royals, have been caught up in the Epstein maelstrom.

New revelations have emerged daily from the stockpile of some three million emails and photographs released on Friday.

Other documents already released and a posthumous memoir by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre prompted King Charles III to strip Andrew of his royal titles last year.

The monarch also ordered him to leave Royal Lodge, where he had lived with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who has also been caught up in the Epstein affair.

Ferguson was also stripped of her duchess title and has been left to seek a new home on her own. There was no indication on Wednesday as to where she might be living now.

Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, had accused Andrew of sexual assault.

The then-prince paid her a multi-million-pound settlement in 2022 without making any admission of guilt.

'Remember the victims'

Andrew will reportedly stay at Wood Farm only until renovations are completed on his planned permanent residence, the much smaller Marsh Farm.

Pressure intensified with the latest release of documents in the United States.

These included photos of Andrew kneeling over a clothed woman lying on the ground, and emails inviting Epstein to Buckingham Palace to talk in "private".

The disclosures prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer to say Andrew should testify before the US Congress about what he knows of Epstein's crimes.

Andrew stepped back from royal duties in 2019 over his links to Epstein, who died by suicide in jail that year while awaiting trial for sex crimes against minors.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl and was jailed.

In the royal family's only public comments on the fresh revelations, Andrew's younger brother Prince Edward said Tuesday at an event in Dubai it was "really important, always, to remember the victims and who are the victims in all of this".