Alwaght- British Prince Andrew Andrew's charity office is leaving Buckingham Palace over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew has been working on a scheme known as the Pitch@Palace in his office, and according to the royal press office, the royal now intends to continue working on the entrepreneurial scheme somewhere else.
“The Duke will continue to work on Pitch and will look at how he takes this forward outside of his public duties, and outside of Buckingham Palace,” a spokesman said Saturday. “We recognize there will be a period of time while this transition takes place.”
Meanwhile, many of the Pitch@Palace charity's financial backers, including Barclays, KPMG, Standard Chartered, and Inmarsat, have abandoned ship since news of Andrew’s relationship with Epstein became public.
Barclays issued a statement Friday, saying, “In light of the current situation, we have informed Pitch@Palace that going forward we will, regretfully, no longer be participating in the program. Pitch@Palace has been historically highly successful in supporting entrepreneurs and job creation and we hope a way forward can be found that means they can continue this important work.”
Andrew has come under even further criticism after he, during a recent BBC Newsnight interview, defended his friendship with Epstein and failed to express sympathy for his many alleged victims.
The 59-year-old prince sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre, who claimed was sex-trafficked by Epstein to him when she was 17 years old.
Andrew is also under pressure to shed more light on the nature and extent of Epstein’s relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the disgraced media mogul, Robert Maxwell.
Ghislaine Maxwell – who is a British citizen – is accused of acting as a pimp for Epstein by procuring underage girls for his sexual gratification.
The gravity of the situation has hit home at Buckingham Palace as the Royal family's brand has been deeply damaged across the globe by one of its most senior members, the Queen's second and supposedly favorite son.
