Prince Andrew’s Sex Assault Allegations and Jeffrey Epstein Friendship Explored in New Documentary

Elizabeth Wagmeister
·3 min read
22
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Prince Andrew, Duke of York is the subject of a new documentary coming soon to Peacock. Titled “Prince Andrew: Banished,” the 90-minute doc will explore the sexual assault allegations against the royal and his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, which eventually caused Queen Elizabeth II to strip her son of his military titles and royal patronages.

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The documentary will launch Oct. 5 on Peacock. It includes commentary from a royal press secretary, palace insiders, journalists, members of Prince Andrew’s social circle and the legal team that brought the allegations against him to light. Tina Brown, magazine editor and author of “The Palace Papers,” also appears.

“When you are the Queen’s son, no one ever tells you the truth,” Brown says in the trailer, released Thursday by Peacock. The clip teases the subject matter as “the scandal that rocked the royal family,” adding that “his title protected him,” but “his recklessness exposed him.”

“Prince Andrew thought he was more than a royal. He thought he was a celebrity,” another journalist says in the first-look footage. “The talk of the dinner parties was he couldn’t keep his trousers closed.”

Prince Andrew was accused of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre, who says she was forced to have sexual encounters with the royal when she was a teenager. The Duke of York has denied all allegations, and settled the sex assault case earlier this year.

Giuffre’s allegations date back to Prince Andrew’s friendship with convicted sex abusers Epstein and Maxwell. Epstein, the mysterious financier, died by suicide while awaiting his trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019. Maxwell, his one-time girlfriend and close confidante, was sentenced to 20 years this past June after being convicted on federal charges of sex trafficking underage girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein. Before the case had settled, Giuffre alleged that she was assaulted by Prince Andrew three times, after she was trafficked by Epstein.

In 2019, Prince Andrew sat down for a now-lambasted interview with the BBC to address the allegations and his relationship with Epstein, which was met with scathing criticism and caused him to scale back on his royal duties. Then in 2022, Queen Elizabeth removed all of her son’s military titles and royal patronages. The Queen’s decision came swiftly after it became clear that Prince Andrew would face a civil trial, after a New York judge threw out the royal’s motion to dismiss Giuffre’s sexual assault case.

With the Queen’s death, Prince Andrew is now eighth in line to the throne, though royal experts have indicated that King Charles has no plans to include him in the future of the monarchy. The second son of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Andrew is the King’s younger brother. According to the documentary’s trailer, he was known to be Queen Elizabeth’s favorite son. At the time the allegations came to light, which the palace repeatedly denied, reports swirled that the Queen considered completely exiling him from the royal family.

Earlier this month, Prince Andrew’s disruption to the royal family was on display as he emerged at a procession for Queen Elizabeth in Edinburgh. As he walked behind his mother’s coffin with his royal siblings, a protestor yelled, “Andrew, you’re a sick old man,” and was subsequently arrested for heckling the Duke of York.

“Prince Andrew: Banished” is directed by Jamie Crawford, who executive produces with Jennifer Harkness, Laura Michalchyshyn, Sam Sniderman, Nina Burleigh, Emma Cooper and Barbara Shearer. Nick McKinney serves as a senior producer and Frank Ombres serves as a producer on the project that hails from Blue Ant Studios.

Watch the trailer for Peacock’s “Banished” here:

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