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Prince Andrew has reportedly avoided his daughter Princess Beatrice's engagement party, fearing further “embarrassment” over his past relationship with deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports cited by the Daily Star.
Reports say the disgraced royal, who is battling allegations of sex abuse, dodged the event in "fear of embarrassment or abuse" from other celebrity attendees.
The publication quotes a source as saying:
“This is a devastating blow for the Duke and a sign of just how bad things have got… The plan was always for him to attend Beatrice’s engagement party alongside Fergie. But things have just turned far more toxic.”
The source was also quoted as saying:
“He agreed that he didn’t want to overshadow the event, especially seeing lots of celebrities and high profile people will be there and it could have put them in a difficult position. People close to him were also in fear of embarrassment or abuse, which would have just been mortifying.”
There had been earlier reports that Princess Beatrice’s wedding preparations may have been overshadowed by her father's disastrous BBC interview, where he attempted to clear his name and involvement in the Epstein scandal.
However, reports claim the developments didn't stop the Princess from throwing an official engagement party that earlier was alleged to have been cancelled.
Following her appearance at the Queen's Christmas lunch at Buckingham Place on Monday, 16 December, Beatrice and her fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, a 34-year-old property entrepreneur, known as “Edo" to his close friends, reportedly invited family and friends to the Chiltern Firehouse bar and restaurant in London to celebrate their forthcoming wedding.
Beatrice's father wasn't there, according to sources, while her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York and sister, Eugenie, were present, alongside family friend Robbie Williams and a host of celebrities.
Buckingham Palace has said it will announce further details of the wedding, which will take place on the New Year, over the coming weeks.
The Unabated Scandal
Earlier in the week, Prince Andrew, who has recently been embroiled in a scandal due to his ties to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, made a surprise appearance at an event hosted by the Queen, weeks after he was dismissed from formal royal duties.
Leaked photos showed him leaving the palace grounds after a Christmas soiree hosted by the Queen on Monday, 16 December, in line with an annual tradition to express gratitude to her Majesty’s palace staffers.
Late last month, the embattled Prince Andrew was ordered to step down from royal duties by the Queen after giving a “car crash” interview to the BBC where he dismally failed to clear his name after becoming embroiled in the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal.
The Prince’s appearance on Newsnight saw him fail to apologise for his friendship with the now-deceased convicted paedophile, who allegedly killed himself in his New York prison cell this year while facing child sex trafficking charges.
The Duke of York continues to face accusations from alleged sex trafficking victim Virginia Roberts Guiffre, who claims she was ordered to have sex with him in 2017.
On 2 December Giuffre gave her first UK television interview for BBC Panorama on the Epstein scandal, claiming she was an underage trafficking victim forced into intimate relations with Prince Andrew when she was 17 on three occasions, including once in London.
Giuffre, now 35, described how she was reportedly recruited by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, a close associate of the financier, to give Epstein massages when she was working as a locker room attendant at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, FL., and later taken to London to meet Prince Andrew.
The alleged sex trafficking victim said that Maxwell told her she would have to do for Prince Andrew what she had done for Epstein, meaning she would have to have sex with him.
“That just made me sick,'' Giuffre said.
Royal Denial
Prince Andrew has been insisting he has no recollection of ever meeting Guiffre, claiming he was at home with his daughters on the night that his accuser says she was forced to have sex with him.
Buckingham Palace and Prince Andrew have also strongly denied having had knowledge of the crimes committed by the convicted sex offender Epstein.
Convicted sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein had been under investigation for nearly two decades at the time of his death in custody earlier this year. The death was officially ruled a suicide but gave rise to speculations of foul play, as the influential American paedophile’s name was linked to many powerful people.
Epstein had pleaded not guilty to all charges but faced up to 45 years in prison had he been convicted.