Prince Andrew Slammed Journalists Who ‘Poke Their Noses Everywhere' in ‘Candid Verging on Rude' Rant
11:37 GMT 28.09.2021 (Updated: 15:16 GMT 28.05.2023)
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Embattled Prince Andrew is currently facing a civil lawsuit for “battery and infliction of emotional distress” filed by an alleged Jeffrey Epstein victim, who claims she was forced to have sex with the Queen’s son on three occasions when she was 17, with the royal rejecting all accusations.
Prince Andrew once offered some “astonishingly candid" remarks bordering on “the rude” at an official engagement, according to US diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks and cited by The Guardian.
The American ambassador to the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan, Tatiana Gfoeller, was privy to some choice verbal soliloquy from the royal, who has since stepped away from public duties over the Epstein sex abuse scandal.
Prince Andrew, who has to his credit a 22-year long military career and served as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands War, became an ambassador for British trade upon leaving the Navy, with military technology high on his list of priorities, writes the outlet. In late October 2008, the Duke of York attended a brunch with British and Canadian business people at a hotel in the Kyrgyzstan capital, Bishkek, where he served up some "rude language”, according to the cable from the US embassy to Washington.
"… [Andrew] turned to the general issue of promoting British economic interests abroad. He railed at British anticorruption investigators, who had had the 'idiocy' of almost scuttling the al-Yamama deal with Saudi Arabia," Gfoeller is cited as writing.
According to the envoy, the Queen’s son was referencing an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, subsequently closed, into “alleged kickbacks a senior Saudi royal had received in exchange for the multi-year, lucrative BAE Systems contract to provide equipment and training to Saudi security forces".
The dispatch stated that Prince Andrew went on to rant at “these (expletive) journalists, especially from the National Guardian, who poke their noses everywhere”, ostensibly rendering it more difficult for British businessmen to do business.
“The crowd practically clapped," added the US diplomat.
The royal was described as being reportedly “super-engaged”, telling the US ambassador directly that Britain was “back in the thick of playing the Great Game”, adding tongue-in-cheek: “And this time we aim to win!”
© Photo : Florida Southern District CourtPrince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell. This photo was included in an affidavit in which Giuffre alleged that she was directed to have sex with Andrew
![Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell. This photo was included in an affidavit in which Giuffre alleged that she was directed to have sex with Andrew Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell. This photo was included in an affidavit in which Giuffre alleged that she was directed to have sex with Andrew - Sputnik International, 1920, 28.09.2021](https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e4/07/0a/1079848014_0:0:1200:822_1920x0_80_0_0_fcc7cf0b067fbd2da8397fed0d13576c.jpg)
Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell. This photo was included in an affidavit in which Giuffre alleged that she was directed to have sex with Andrew
© Photo : Florida Southern District Court
The Duke of York is currently facing a civil lawsuit in the United States amid Jeffrey Epstein’s main accuser Virginia Giuffre's claims that she was sexually assaulted by the royal when she was still deemed underage in the US.
© AP Photo / Bebeto MatthewsVirginia Roberts Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court
![Virginia Roberts Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court Virginia Roberts Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court - Sputnik International, 1920, 28.09.2021](https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e4/08/01/1080031499_0:0:2838:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_f526ccfd5efbc6844b691ffe7a19b607.jpg)
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court
© AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
Roberts Giuffre (née Roberts) insists that she was forced to have sex with the British royal at least three times by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The tycoon was charged in July 2019 of running a sex trafficking network of minors.
© AP Photo / Elizabeth WilliamsGhislaine Maxwell, center, appears in Manhattan Federal court flanked by her attorneys, Bobbi C. Sternheim, left, and Jeff Paugliuca, right, and a US Marshal, rear, during her arraignment on a superceding indictment, Friday, April 23, 2021, in New York.
![Ghislaine Maxwell, center, appears in Manhattan Federal court flanked by her attorneys, Bobbi C. Sternheim, left, and Jeff Paugliuca, right, and a US Marshal, rear, during her arraignment on a superceding indictment, Friday, April 23, 2021, in New York. Ghislaine Maxwell, center, appears in Manhattan Federal court flanked by her attorneys, Bobbi C. Sternheim, left, and Jeff Paugliuca, right, and a US Marshal, rear, during her arraignment on a superceding indictment, Friday, April 23, 2021, in New York. - Sputnik International, 1920, 28.09.2021](https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/06/15/1083203166_0:0:2730:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_1ee33573690b6b87e2d61159ba821faa.jpg)
Ghislaine Maxwell, center, appears in Manhattan Federal court flanked by her attorneys, Bobbi C. Sternheim, left, and Jeff Paugliuca, right, and a US Marshal, rear, during her arraignment on a superceding indictment, Friday, April 23, 2021, in New York.
© AP Photo / Elizabeth Williams
His alleged accomplice, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, has been charged with grooming and sex trafficking girls for the financier and is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn pending her November trial. Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019, with his death officially ruled a suicide.
The Queen’s second son has publicly denied all claims made by his accuser, saying that he can’t remember ever meeting the woman, whom he has accused of lying. While the duke’s legal team has been trying to dismiss the case over the past few weeks based on technical claims, reports have now emerged that security services fear the prince may be vulnerable to blackmail over his ties with the late billionaire pedophile Epstein. Security officials have ostensibly reviewed the security of Prince Andrew's internet and phone connections in case of bugging.