Prince Andrew made his first public appearance on Thursday since he was accused several weeks ago of having sex with an underage girl, and he took the opportunity to deny the claims in person, following previous denials from Buckingham Palace.
The 54-year-old Duke of York and Queen Elizabeth II's second son made his comments before international and business leaders at the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He faces no criminal charges and is not a named party in the legal claim.
"Firstly, I think I must...want, for the record, to refer to the events that have taken place in the last few weeks and I just wish to reiterate and to reaffirm the statements which have already been made on my behalf by Buckingham Palace," he told reporters on Thursday, he said, as seen in a video posted by NBC News. "My focus is on my work."
On Jan. 2, the alleged victim, Virginia Roberts, 31, joined a 2008 civil lawsuit filed in Florida on behalf of several other women who claimed they were sexually abused by U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, calling for the overturning of a plea deal he had struck in which he had pleaded guilty to soliciting sex with a minor for prostitution. He served 13 months in jail. The women had claimed that federal prosecutors violated their rights by entering into the agreement, in which the disgraced 62-year-old businessman, now a registered sex offender, had avoided federal prosecution.
Roberts, named in her filing as "Jane Doe #3," stated that when she was 17, Epstein had forced her to have sex with several people, including Andrew. In a 14-page sworn affidavit, filed last week in Florida, she stated she had had sex with Andrew three times in three different places in the world, including at an "orgy", when she was 17 and 18 years old, The Telegraph reported. The age of consent in Florida is 18.
"It is emphatically denied that HRH The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts," Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Jan. 4, its second official response, according to the U.K. newspaper The Telegraph. "The allegations made are false and without any foundation."
Roberts has called Buckingham Palace's denial of her accusations was both "false" and "hurtful," The Telegraph reported.
The palace had cited Roberts by name after her identify was revealed in reports published by several British newspapers.
In her filing, her lawyers made a formal request to Buckingham Palace, asking Andrew to testify under oath about the allegations. The letter, the outlet said, includes a photograph taken in 2001, showing Andrew with his arm around her waist. Palace officials have not responded.
"I did have sexual contact with him [Prince Andrew] as I have described here—under oath," the outlet quoted her as saying. "Given what he knows and has seen, I was hoping that he would simply voluntarily tell the truth about everything. I hope my attorneys can interview Prince Andrew under oath about the contacts and that he will tell the truth."