Prince Andrew Officially WITHDRAWS From His Royal Duties -- Full Statement HERE
At last, the Duke of York made the move everyone has been waiting for after his controversial BBC interview.
Prince Andrew released an official statement regarding his decision to withdraw from his royal duties, as posted on his Twitter account through the Royal Communications.
The consequenes of his BBC interview, which affected not only the Royal Family but also his corporate partnerships with various sponsors and charities, finally became clear to him.
"Therefore, I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the unforeseeable future, and she has given her permission," the statement read.
Prince Andrew admitted that he realized that the "circusmstances relating to his former association with Jeffrey Epstein" has become a "major disruption" to him and the royal family, Moreover, in the statement, he sounded like a whole different person compared to his character and tone during the one-on-one tell-all discussion with BBC.
In the same statement, Prince Andrew expressed his sympathy towards the victims, which he failed to do in the interview.
A statement by His Royal Highness The Duke of York KG. pic.twitter.com/solPHzEzzp — The Duke of York (@TheDukeOfYork) November 20, 2019
Critics Saw It Coming
The sudden and unexpected decision came out after the former Queen press secretary, Dickie Arbiter, spoke to "Good Morning Britain" with regards to the unwillingness of the Duke of York to cooperate with the lawyers who speak for the victims.
Arbiter left a piece of advice at the end of the segment, telling Prince Andrew to take a step back until the issue is resolved.
Media lawyer Mark Stephens, who also appeared on GMB with Arbiter, slammed the Duke of York even more after he bravely spoke that he could not see how Prince Andrew can continue with his royal duties now that his corporate sponsors already left Pitch@Palace.
Stephens then made a statement that the duke does not have a future after all the events that took place.
Left Alone
Pitch@Palace's program members came up with a decision to leave the program and Prince Andrew after he sustained public condemnation for failing to sympathize with Jeffrey Epstein's victims as well as for failing to show regret befriending him.
Sure enough, it led to his downfall.
For the past months, Prince Andrew received questions and grillings over his ties with Epstein, who took his own life in August while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Prince Andrew finally spoke up his side during his interview with the BBC, but his answers did not satisfy everyone -- or anyone outsidfe the royalty for that matter.
Instead of telling the truth, the Duke of York denied the claims made by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who reportedly became a sex slave of Epstein. He denied knowledge about all the human trafficking-related crimes -- even calling it "unbecoming" -- and later said that he does not regret being friends with Epstein.
The aforementioned interview opened up old wounds and fueled more unanswered questions.
However, now that Prince Andrew took a step back, people are hoping for him to finally give the victims a closure, as well as the truth.
