The royal insider

Prince Andrew has been absent from public duties for four years yet his mere presence as a family member is enough to create huge embarrassment for the royals.

His friendship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has caused scandal for many years – culminating in his multimillion-pound settlement with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually assaulting her aged 17.

That out-of-court settlement (with no liability admitted by the prince) was largely seen as the late Queen Elizabeth drawing a line under the matter.

But I don’t think that will ever happen.

More allegations

Over the past couple of weeks a huge cache of documents have been unsealed by a New York court in connection to allegations that Virginia, and others, made against Epstein’s partner (and Andrew’s good friend) Ghislaine Maxwell.

She is already serving a long prison-stretch for sex trafficking and arranging girls for Epstein and his friends’ pleasure.

Lurid claims of sex tapes, girls taken to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, intimate massages and more are contained in these allegations and counter-allegations.

But step back from the sordid detail and a couple of things are clear.

Despite whatever the grand old Duke of York may think, his public life is finished.

There is no way back for him – and despite the advice from close friends that he quietly finds redemption in low-key charity work, rather like John Profumo so successfully did, he has not done so. Rather he mopes and bemoans his lot, holed up in grandeur at Royal Lodge with devoted ex-wife Fergie and occasionally seen riding around Windsor Great Park on all the King’s horses.

Second, his well-established status as a liability is not going to change soon. Legal proceedings in the US will continue to cast a lurid light over his association with Epstein and public outrage will inevitably revive in the future with the release of Netflix’s Scoop, dramatising Andrew’s disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview.

Some have called for the King to have his brother leave Royal Lodge – and perhaps in time that may come to pass, given that currently Charles pays for his security out of his own pocket.

But w