After years of going to extreme lengths to get women to date him, Prince Andrew started down a dark path that would culminate in shaming the Royal Family through his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Things really got heated when Virginia Giuffre (formerly Virginia Roberts Giuffre), claimed that she was forced into having sex with Prince Andrew when she was just 17, and refused to back down.

She has that now-infamous photo to back up her story, although Prince Andrew’s supporters have spun all kinds of theories to try and discredit it as a fake.

The point is, with everything that has happened, there is no denying that Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein were buddies, so it makes sense that when Epstein died, Andrew would be pulled into the inquiry.

According to The Guardian, Andrew initially agreed to help wherever he could. Then when it was time to turn words into actions, Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman says that he “completely shut the door”.

Berman made a similar claim in January, which former sex crimes prosecutors told the Guardian was most likely a move designed to win political support for the investigation.

Buckingham Palace said then it would not comment and the matter was being dealt with by the prince’s legal team. Contacted on Monday, a Palace spokeswoman said: “The issue is being dealt with by the Duke of York’s legal team.”

Despite efforts to keep his legal team a secret, things have a way of getting out, especially when you’re as high profile as Andrew.

The Duke has reportedly hired Clare Montgomery, a senior barrister at Matrix Chambers, whose clients have included Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s former dictator, and Shrien Dewani, charged with and acquitted of murdering his wife in South Africa. She also prosecuted the Metropolitan police over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead in a failed anti-terror operation.

That’s quite a client list.

Andrew is doing his best to keep his head down, but there’s no going back now.

[source:guardian]