The royals certainly have been giving Netflix a whole lot of reasons to pick up more seasons of The Crown lately. After a disastrous interview with the BBC, which focused on his friendship with late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and allegations of assaulting underage girls, Prince Andrew has reportedly been kicked out of Buckingham Palace.
Andrew and his staff were reportedly asked to leave the offices of the palace on Friday, November 22, according to the Times of London per The New York Post. This news comes after Andrew announced he would be stepping away from his official royal duties following the interview, which had become a "major disruption" to his family's work.
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In a statement, Andrew said, “I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, and she has given her permission." Andrew was reportedly also given the Queen's permission to take part in the sit-down with the BBC.
In the interview, which aired last weekend, Andrew was asked about his relationship with Epstein, which continued after the financier's first indictments for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Epstein served a 13-month jail sentence in 2008 in connection to those charges and, two years later, Andrew was photographed with him in New York City.
“With a benefit of all the hindsight that one can have," he said that staying at Epstein's house in 2010 "was definitely the wrong thing to do. But at the time I felt it was the honorable and right thing to do and I admit fully that my judgment was probably colored by my tendency to be too honorable but that's just the way it is."
In that same interview, Andrew also said that he had "no recollection" of ever meeting Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who accused the royal of sexual abuse when she was 16 years old, despite there being a 2001 photo of them together. Neither the Palace nor Andrew have ever publicly addressed this photo.
Following the news that the prince was kicked out of Buckingham Palace, though, Andrew and his mother were photographed together. The image of them riding horses side-by-side serves as a “clear gesture of support from the Queen,” according to the Times.