Prince Andrew might think he’s had a rough trot this year, with his disastrous Newsnight interview about his former friend and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein seeing him booted from any official role in the royal family.
But it might be about to get a whole lot worse, with the recent arrest of Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, reportedly leaving the Duke feeling “nervous”, according to US magazine.
WATCH: Princess Anne refuses to answer question about Prince Andrew
On Thursday, Ghislaine was reportedly arrested and charged as a co-conspirator, allegedly grooming and transporting victims.
Andrew previously claimed that Ghislaine was a “key element” in his friendship with Epstein, and according to The Sun, she is thought to have introduced the royal to Epstein victim Virginia Roberts.
“It will surprise exactly no-one if Ghislaine slithers out of this by coughing up other names and details of Jeffrey’s crimes, and his associates,” a source previously claimed.

“I bet Andrew is absolutely sweating by now. Ghislaine and him go way back so she’d have loads on him that he wouldn’t want to see the light of day.”
Mounting speculation over a tell-all interview comes after Andrew recently offered a rare response to claims that he has provided no cooperation so far in the Jeffrey Epstein trial.
Just days after it was revealed he had been summoned to the US by Department of Justice, the royal hit back at previous allegations he had been refusing to cooperate, with his legal team releasing a long statement in response.
And not only is the statement extremely rare, following months of silence from the royal on the matter, but it also claims that something entirely different has been happening behind the scenes.

In the statement, Andrew’s lawyers claim he has tried to offer assistance to the Department of Justice three times this year, after the authority first requested his help at the beginning of January.
They also allege the Department “has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own confidentiality rules and claiming that the Duke has offered zero co-operation”.
“To date, we have chosen not to make any public statement regarding our discussions with the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Our commitment to confidentiality is not only regarded as best practice in the UK but is also intended to respect the DOJ’s commitment to confidentiality, as set out in its own rules as they apply to discussions with potential witnesses,” the statement read.

“However, in view of misleading media briefings, we owe it to our client to issue this clarifying statement.”
The statement continued: “As the public record indicates the DOJ [Department of Justice] has been actively investigating Mr Epstein and other targets for more than 16 years, yet the first time they requested the Duke’s help was on 2nd January 2020.
“Importantly, the DOJ advised us that the Duke is not and has never been a ‘target’ of their criminal investigations into Epstein and that they sought his confidential, voluntary cooperation.”
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