“A Royal Cover-Up Exposed!”: Prince Andrew ignites a massive global media firestorm and leaves the entire world completely paralyzed with shock after his ultimate nightmare becomes a shattering reality, as former bodyguards are ruthlessly forced to expose the horrific and chilling Epstein secrets they hid for years
Secret Epstein Island witnesses could decide Andrew’s fate
UK police want to speak to a group of men who travelled with the former Duke of York when he stayed with Epstein in New York, Florida and the Caribbean.
They’d be middle aged by now, the small club of former male police officers scattered across the UK – tending their marrows in vegetable allotments, drawing down their pensions and bemoaning woke new crisp flavours – who hold Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s fate in their hands.
That’s because, for years these men, the erstwhile prince’s personal protection officers (PPOs) were there, every step of the way of Andrew’s Great Big BFF Jeff adventure for all those years. From the sex trafficker’s gargantuan New York mansion to his Best Western-looking Caribbean island to his Palm Beach estate to a “straightforward shooting weekend” these PPOs were there. Watching. Seeing. Listening.
And the police? Why, they’d quite like a word with these former royal bodyguards as the months-long investigation into King Charles’ brother, arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office, continues and as they consider other potential offences including sexual misconduct and corruption. (Andrew has previously denied all wrongdoing.)
Royal history is full of dukes being taken down mid charge on galloping steeds or via dastardly Machiavellian vellum-strewn plotting. But in the case of Andrew, it’s this coterie of unnamed men, who spent the careers in the pointy ends of planes and the fleshpots of central Asia with their principal, and who could be the deciding factor that lands him in a courtroom or sees him exonerated.
While the world has largely moved on since the former Duke of York’s arrest on his 66th birthday this year, Thames Valley police have not and, powered by, I’m assuming, industrial vats of Nescafe slurped out of The Bill-worthy styrofoam cups, have been trying to stand up a case against Andrew.
Why was former prince Andrew arrested – and what happens now?
This week The Times reported that the plod are getting set out to speak with Andrew’s former PPOs, raising the startling question of, what the dickens took you so long?
The release of the Epstein files earlier this year revealed the extent that Andrew’s PPOs were involved, such as the fact that they spent more than a week staying at Epstein’s New York mansion in 2010 and had the security codes, by which time Epstein was a convicted sex offender. During that trip, they were tasked to act as bouncers for a dinner party the pedophile was hosting for such lovely guests as Woody Allen.
What might his PPOs have seen in March 2001 when flew to the Caribbean and conducted a security “recce” of Epstein’s ‘Little Saint Jeff’ island ahead of Andrew visiting? The then duke flew in the following day and spent 48 hours on the island for what was, one eyewitness previously told the Daily Mail, a “weekend-long party”.
Flight logs show that Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Miss Giuffre and a “young female ‘masseuse’”, per the Mail, had flown in for the “party” too.
Virginia Giuffre has alleged she was sexually abused by Andrew on three occasions in 2001, including on the island. (He has also strenuously denied her allegations.)
One PPO later said, the Mail reported in 2020, that during that trip they had not seen Miss Giuffre but the office said he felt that “something wasn’t quite right” on the island.
Throughout this trip, the PPO reportedly kept a daily diary.
Also note that Andrew’s PPOs are reported to have flown with him on Epstein’s Lolita Express plane.
So, you can see why the police might want a quiet word with these officers – officers who would surely remember if they had ever had the pleasure of taking their principal to Pizza Express and Woking and had to explain what a stuffed crust was.
Earlier this year, a former senior Met protection officer raised concerns that the PPOs might have “ turned a blind eye” after having become “too close” to the lovely chap they were paid to protect.
The officer explained: “royalty protection officers were often assigned to the same principal for many years, so it’s no wonder they became close.”
“The big question for me is what Andrew’s protection team witnessed on Epstein Island.
“I’m not suggesting they definitely witnessed any criminality from Andrew, but there was concern that certain members of the royal protection team wilfully turned a blind eye to what was happening on the island.”
He said: “There were real concerns that … the royalty protection team became too close to their principals.
“Due to the nature of the job, royalty protection officers were often assigned to the same principal for many years, so it’s no wonder they became close.
“I certainly thought that a line was crossed to the point that we were concerned that information was being withheld from the police. They seemed more loyal to the Royal Family than to the Met – and that’s wrong.
“The Royalty Unit were terrified of reporting any questionable behaviour from the Royals. There were occasions in the past where an officer reported the behaviour of a royal and the next day they were removed from the unit and put back in uniform.”
In February, former royal protection officer Paul Page claimed that he had been “told to keep quiet” by the Metropolitan Police. Earlier this year the Times reported that Page had reviewed a letter from the force and, as he put it, “It’s trying to say, in the nicest possible terms, ‘can you shut up?’” Page said.
Page “alleged that a culture of gambling, moonlighting and drinking existed in the royal protection squad at the time”.
He also told The Sun that police officers stationed at Buckingham Palace were “not allowed” to know the names of Andrew’s guests: “But we didn’t ask, because the bottom line is, because of fear, we didn’t want to get booted off our post.
The men who are paid, these days, to guard Andrew, not just a bog standard ‘mister’, would surely have very little to report, stranded in rural Norfolk and with nothing to do all day but watch Andrew self-pityingly shovel Jaffa Cakes in his maw and play Fortnite.
As they used to say on The Bill, the police investigations – plural – into ex duke continue.
Daniela Elser is an editor and commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.