Daily Mail: His Buffoon Highness strikes again
His Buffoon Highness strikes again: Prince Andrew parties with sex offender pal 7th December 2010 Daily Mail
After the battering his public image has taken, you might have expected Prince Andrew to be keeping his head down. But astonishingly, instead of lying low, he has been partying in New York at the home of a man who was in prison last year for serious sex offences.
Hedge-fund tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, 57 — whose crimes included soliciting a minor for prostitution — invited the Prince to join a high-powered dinner party at his Manhattan townhouse.
Living it up: Prince Andrew
When he got there, Andrew was relieved that no one was brave enough to ask him about his WikiLeaks gaffes. All they were interested in was the royal wedding of his nephew, Prince William, to Kate Middleton.
Andrew was in jolly mood, I am told, especially when other guests, including Hollywood star Woody Allen, asked him for an invite to April's wedding.
Another guest, CBS anchor Katie Couric, told him she would be broadcasting live from outside Westminster Abbey, and asked: 'If I mail your BlackBerry, will you give me the details on what is happening inside?'
Andrew apparently loved being the centre of attention. As for Epstein, he was preening among this powerful group that he'd got his longtime royal friend to come.
But then, Andrew loves a party. And Epstein has always been good at throwing them. It has brought them close enough for the Prince to have invited the former Wall Street trader to stay not only at Sandringham, but also at Buckingham Palace, in the past.
The two have also holidayed together in Thailand. But since his 13-month prison sentence in Florida, Epstein is unlikely to be a guest in the Queen's house again.
Coming so soon after the disclosures by an American ambassador that the Prince was 'cocky' and 'rude', Andrew's decision to live it up in New York — especially with Epstein — calls into question yet again the judgment of the man entrusted with the role of being a trade envoy for Britain.
Now it is lamentably clear that the man referred to by some of the diplomats he has come into contact with as HBH — His Buffoon Highness — does not do his homework.
For when he chose to insult the French by repeatedly labelling their country corrupt, he was unaware that the U.S. ambassador to Kyrgyzstan he was talking to, Tatiana Gfoeller, is French.
Born in France, Ms Gfoeller is the daughter of celebrated former French secret intelligence agent turned Cold War spy novelist Vladimir Volkoff.
Back in New York, Andrew was in his element. Jokingly comparing himself to Prince Harry, he said: 'Like Harry, I'm just the younger brother.' And when asked by Woody Allen how his ex-wife Fergie was, he replied: 'She's very well — we live together.'
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