Here Comes Trouble! Prince Andrew's Biggest Scandals Over the Years

Prince Andrew's downfall began when his ties with late American financier and convicted s-- offender Jeffrey Epstein came to light.

They first established a connection following their 1999 meeting through Ghislaine Maxwell. In the months thereafter, they were spotted together at events and gatherings, including at Prince Andrew's 40th birthday party and at Donald Trump's .

The disgraced Duke of York plunged to a new low when 2015 court documents alleged that he had s-- with Virginia Giuffre when she was 17. Buckingham Palace quickly dismissed the accusations against Prince Andrew at the time.

In August 2021, Giuffre filed a civil lawsuit against the royal, accusing him of sexually assaulting her when she was underage. Despite Prince Andrew's attempts to throw out the case, a New York judge rejected his team's court papers and allowed the lawsuit to move forward.

After months of legal showdown, Prince Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre.

Three years after police opened a criminal investigation, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18 and solicitation of prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in June 2008 but was released in 2009 after serving less than 13 months.

In December 2010, Prince Andrew sparked criticism after he was photographed visiting Epstein in New York following the latter's prison release. As the backlash intensified, the royal decided to resign from his role as U.K. trade envoy.

Then, in August 2019, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell after being re-arrested over s-- trafficking charges.

"Saturday, August 10, 2019, at approximately 6.30am, inmate Jeffrey Edward Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell … subsequently pronounced dead by hospital staff," a statement from the Metropolitan Correctional Center read.

While reports said Epstein died by suicide, theories surfaced claiming the late businessman did not kill himself.

In November 2019, roughly three months after Epstein died by suicide, Prince Andrew made a failed bid to clear his name during an interview with BBC's Newsnight. During the infamous discussion, he said he did not regret his entire friendship with Epstein, which he allegedly ended when they met in 2010.

He also denied meeting Giuffre and having s-- with her despite the emergence of a photograph showing him with his arm around his accuser's waist. The snap also captured Maxwell standing in the background and smiling brightly.

Prince Andrew alleged the photo was faked, explaining, "That's a picture of me. It's not — I don't believe it's a picture of me in London."

After Prince Andrew faced further public backlash, he announced Queen Elizabeth II had given him permission to step back from public duties for "foreseeable future."

"I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein," he added. "His suicide has left many unanswered questions, particularly for his victims, and I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure. I can only hope that, in time, they will be able to rebuild their lives."

Prince Andrew assured, "Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required."

In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II stripped Prince Andrew of his royal and military titles in the wake of Giuffre's sexual assault lawsuit.

In January, court documents from the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority showed Prince Andrew maintaining his contact with Epstein until February 2011 despite previously claiming he ended their friendship in 2010.

One message read, "Keep in close touch and we'll play some more soon."

Prince Andrew's friend shared the royal's alleged crimes, including his sexual activities with younger women.

A video published by the Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe torpedoed Prince Andrew's reputation further after it captured the royal's ally John Bryan discussing his alleged crimes with journalists at a restaurant.

"I was really pissed because [Prince Andrew] lied to me ... [about] Epstein," O'Keefe shared.

"Then I did a big thing in the Daily Mail, saying I believed Andrew. And then I found out he was lying," he continued, to which a woman asked, "Lying about what? S------- underage girls?"

Bryan agreed to the statement, saying, "That he was f------ underage girls. That's not cool."

Andrew Lownie's biography Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York also claimed Prince Andrew slept with "more than a dozen women" in the first year of his marriage to Sarah Ferguson. The Duchess of York allegedly had affairs of her own after finding out about her then-husband's infidelity.

In Lownie's biography, the author wrote about Prince Andrew and Trump's obsession with p--- and massages.

When the POTUS attended Heidi Klum's Halloween party in 2000, he was reportedly quoted saying, "[Prince Andrew] is not pretentious. He's a lot of fun to be with."

"Shortly afterwards, and clearly good friends, Trump and Andrew were overheard at an event to discuss Trump's plans for a golfing complex in Scotland, talking entirely about' p----,’ with the American producing a list of masseuses for the prince," Lownie wrote about the pair's friendship.

He added, "From the reports I've got back from the women we've shared, he's the most perverted animal in the bedroom."

The author then quoted Epstein saying of Prince Andrew, "He likes to engage in stuff that's even kinky to me — and I'm the king of kink!"

Lownie dropped another claim in his biography, alleging Prince Andrew and Maxwell "had been occasional lovers" over the years amid their friendship.

"Through her, the prince had come into the ambit of her boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein," the royal biographer continued.