October 20, 2025 • 12 mins
Over the weekend, Prince Andrew announced he’s giving up his royal title, the Duke of York, after allegations linking him to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to cause controversy worldwide.
Now, police in London have confirmed they‘re “actively” looking into recent media reports claiming Andrew attempted to use his access as a member of the royal family to ‘dig up dirt’ on his alleged victim, Virginia Giuffre.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Just a heads up before we get into today's episode.
We're going to chat through some distressing themes, including sexual assault.
Listener discretion is advised already.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
And this is the Daily Art. This is the Daily OS. Oh,
now it makes sense. Good morning, and welcome to the
Daily OS. It's Tuesday, the twenty first of October. I'm
Billy fitz Simon's I'm Emma Gillespie. Over the weekend, Prince
(00:31):
Andrew announced he's giving up his royal title, the Duke
of York, after allegations linking him to the late sex
offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to cause controversy worldwide. Now, police
in London have confirmed they're actively looking into recent media
reports claiming Andrew attempted to use his access as a
member of the royal family to quote dig up dirt
(00:53):
on his alleged victim, Virginia Jeffrey. Today we will share
the latest on this story.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Billy, we are talking about the latest headlines announcement, some
big updates from the royal family about Prince Andrew. But
for our listeners who might not be so familiar with
the ins and outs of the Royal family, who is
Prince Andrew?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So he is the brother of King Charles. He is
the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth and the
late Prince Philip. He is probably best known now, certainly
after the last six years, for his friendship or relationship
with the late Jeffrey Epstein. Now a very quick note
(01:41):
on Epstein. He was an American businessman and a convicted
sex offender. He died by suicide in twenty nineteen in
a New York jail cell, but the crimes he committed
have continued to cause controversy. And because Epstein has died
and longer face trial for his alleged crimes, the ones
(02:03):
that he wasn't convicted for, the world's attention has turned
over the past six years since his death to the
alleged crimes of his associates and friends.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Which we have seen playing out very recently. An ongoing
kind of controversy surrounding his relationship with Donald Trump, for example,
the US presidents. So this is a really high profile
story that seems to have captured the attention of all
corners of the world, really the media and you know,
(02:34):
just people in general online seem quite gripped, fascinated, disturbed
by these relationships, and you know, we have this kind
of natural curiosity to want to know more about who
Epstein was connected to.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, so whenever we hear the phrase Epstein files, this
is the man that we are talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So what do we need to know about his relationship
with Prince Andrew specifically?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So, Prince Andrew and Epstein's friendship is one of the
key parts of why we are talking about Prince Andrew
today because it's been basically the key part of all
of the headlines that have been circulating around him for
the past six years. Now, what you need to know
is that one of Epstein's accusers is a woman named
Virginia Giffray.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Now that name may be familiar to our listeners because
Virginia Giffrey died earlier this year. She actually had been
living in Australia for some time, but she claimed she
was trafficked by Epstein as well as his former partner
Glaine Maxwell, and forced to engage in sexual activity with
Prince Andrew when she was underage. So her story specifically
(03:43):
focused on Prince Andrew's involvement, and Giuffrey died by suicide
earlier this year, right.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Exactly, And you might remember all listeners might remember that
infamous interview that Prince Andrew did all the way back
in twenty nineteen with the BBC. Now, that interview did
these allegations that were brought forward by Virginia Jeffrey that
she was raped by Prince Andrew, And in that interview
(04:09):
he famously said that or he famously denied the allegations
because he said that he was at a pizza joint
on the night of the alleged rape.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yep, there is a very infamous photo that I'm sure
a lot of people are thinking of in their mind
right now where Virginia Duffrey is photographed with Prince Andrew
and also Glaine Maxwell, the former partner of Jeffrey Epstein.
But Prince Andrew denied that that photo was legitimate. He's
always maintained that it was photoshopped or docted in some way.
(04:39):
That interview. I think it's fair to say Billy did
not go well for Prince Andrew. It was not received
in kind of the court of public opinion as clearing
his name exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
He has always denied the allegations against him, and he
has also repeatedly rejected allegations of any wrongdoing in connection
to Epstein, however, saying that he did settle a lawsuit
with Virginia Juffrey in twenty twenty two without admitting any wrongdoing.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
We'll bring you more of today's deep dive right after
a quick word from our sponsor. Okay, so, Billy, you've
given us the background. Who is Prince Andrew, Who is
Jeffrey Epstein, Who is Virginia Juffrey. But why are we
talking about these people today?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So over the weekend it was announced that Prince Andrew
is giving up his royal titles. So that means he
has resigned his title as the Duke of York and
also the Order of the Garter membership, which is the
most senior level of knighthood in the UK.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Okay, so it's not just that he is no longer
a duke. He's also no longer a.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Knight exactly, which is quite a rare thing for members
of the royal family to do. For example, Prince Harry,
even though he has stepped away completely from the royal family,
he's still the Duke of Sussex. So I think that
just gives you a signal of how rare this is.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, or kind of in you know, recent history if
a royal family member does denounce their title or walk
away from that, it's for reasons, like, you know, they
want to live and work a quote unquote normal life
away from the public purse of the royal family. They
don't want to do the roles that come with the
responsibilities of being part of the royal family. Or you know,
(06:19):
in the case of to people who watched the Crown,
they will know in the case of you know, love affairs, marriages,
wanting to marry a divorced person, et cetera, et cetera.
I guess those are the kinds of reasons over the
last one hundred odd years that people would renounce their titles. Yes.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So, in a statement, Andrews said that quote the continued
accusations against him were distracting from the work of the
royal family, and he also repeated his denial of any wrongdoing.
He emphasized in that statement that this was a decision
that was made in consultation with the King, so King Charles,
his brother. He also added, I have decided, as I
(06:59):
always have to put duty to my family and country first.
I stand by my decision five years ago to stand
back from public life.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Okay, So he has stepped away from his titles, but
he actually stepped away from the kind of formalities of
being part of the royal family a long time ago.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So he did that about five years ago, right after
the BBC interview came out that we talked about earlier,
because the backlash against him was so strong. One thing
I want to note before we go on is that
you might recognize that we're still saying Prince Andrew. And
this is something I was confused about because I was like,
do we still call him Prince Andrew? Yep. He says
(07:40):
that he will keep that title of Prince, so even
though he's no longer Duke of York, he's still technically
Prince Andrew, so that's the only one that he will keep.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I was going to say, even if he wasn't keeping that,
I feel that the media would continue to call him
Prince Andrew anyway, in the same way that he still
refer to Princess Catherine as Kate Middleton.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And then I got confused about what's his last name?
If we do just call him Andrew anyway, it's all
very confusing.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
It's very confusing. Okay, So obviously, Billy, it's been a
tumultuous period of about six or so years for Prince Andrew,
these long term, long standing, historical allegations of abuse. But
why has he stepped away from that title the Duke
of York?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Now?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Like what has happened in the immediate short term that
would prompt him to go a step further.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
There are a few things. One is that Virginia Jeffray's
posthumous memoir is being published this week, it's actually today
when this episode goes out, and that recounts the story
of how Epstein introduced her to Prince Andrew, and it
also details the alleged rape. Again, she was underage when
these alleged rapes plural took place. Yep. Another thing that
(08:55):
has come up recently has been Prince Andrew's relationship with
a prominent figure involved in a China spying case. That's
kind of a whole other thing. I definitely think it's
worth mentioning, but I don't know if we need to
go into too much detail there. I think just know
that that is there. And then the other thing, which
I think is most likely to be the big trigger here,
(09:17):
is that on Sunday, which the timelines might be a
bit confusing here, But on Sunday some leaked emails came
out and it is very possible that he got a
heads up that this article with these leaked emails were
about to be published.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Okay, so we don't know for sure, but I suppose
you can assume. And given how things do kind of
operate with the royal family's relationship with the tabloid media,
it's such a different beast over in the UK. But
you know, they would have a lot of sources within
a tabloid publication like the Daily Mail, who probably would
have reached out and said, Hi, we're going to publish
(09:54):
this story. Do you have a comment? And I guess yeah,
we don't know for sure. It's just speculation, but I think,
you know, people will make their own minds up about
the timing. Yes, so tell me about the leaked emails though, like,
what did that say?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
So the Daily Mail in the UK, they claimed through
these leaked emails that Prince Andrew tried to use his
police protection which he accesses by being a member of
the royal family, to obtain personal information about Virginia Giffrey
back in twenty eleven, before the newspaper was about to
(10:28):
publish a photo of Jeffrey and Andrew, the one that
we were just talking about for the first time. Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
So this allegation is implying that Prince Andrew was trying
to dig up dirt about Virginia Jiffrey to discredit her. Yes, okay,
and if that is true, that would be a kind
of an abuse of his power as a member of
the royal family.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Those are the allegations.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, okay, So now that that is out there, what's
been the fall out scence?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
The fallout since has been that the police has confirmed
that they are now investigating those claims. Okay, So a
Metropolitan Police spokesperson has told the media we are aware
of media reporting and are actively looking into the claims made.
So no charges have been laid. We have no further
information or we know is that police are looking into
(11:21):
these allegations because, like we said, it could be an
abuse of power if it is true.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Really a fascinating development in this case. I feel like
everything Epstein related is just continuing to intensify, whether it's
over in the US, the Epstein files or these ongoing
investigations and allegations surrounding Prince Andrew. One thing is for sure,
though we will be hearing more about it in the
days and weeks to come, and we'll keep you updated
on the daily hours. We will thank you so much
(11:49):
for listening to today's podcast. If this episode raised any
issues for you, help is available through Lifeline on thirteen
eleven fourteen or one eight hundred. Respect will pop some
links to reach sources in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Bungelung Calkatin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Just a heads up before we get into today's episode.
We're going to chat through some distressing themes, including sexual assault.
Listener discretion is advised already.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
And this is the Daily Art. This is the Daily OS. Oh,
now it makes sense. Good morning, and welcome to the
Daily OS. It's Tuesday, the twenty first of October. I'm
Billy fitz Simon's I'm Emma Gillespie. Over the weekend, Prince
(00:31):
Andrew announced he's giving up his royal title, the Duke
of York, after allegations linking him to the late sex
offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to cause controversy worldwide. Now, police
in London have confirmed they're actively looking into recent media
reports claiming Andrew attempted to use his access as a
member of the royal family to quote dig up dirt
(00:53):
on his alleged victim, Virginia Jeffrey. Today we will share
the latest on this story.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Billy, we are talking about the latest headlines announcement, some
big updates from the royal family about Prince Andrew. But
for our listeners who might not be so familiar with
the ins and outs of the Royal family, who is
Prince Andrew?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So he is the brother of King Charles. He is
the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth and the
late Prince Philip. He is probably best known now, certainly
after the last six years, for his friendship or relationship
with the late Jeffrey Epstein. Now a very quick note
(01:41):
on Epstein. He was an American businessman and a convicted
sex offender. He died by suicide in twenty nineteen in
a New York jail cell, but the crimes he committed
have continued to cause controversy. And because Epstein has died
and longer face trial for his alleged crimes, the ones
(02:03):
that he wasn't convicted for, the world's attention has turned
over the past six years since his death to the
alleged crimes of his associates and friends.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Which we have seen playing out very recently. An ongoing
kind of controversy surrounding his relationship with Donald Trump, for example,
the US presidents. So this is a really high profile
story that seems to have captured the attention of all
corners of the world, really the media and you know,
(02:34):
just people in general online seem quite gripped, fascinated, disturbed
by these relationships, and you know, we have this kind
of natural curiosity to want to know more about who
Epstein was connected to.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, so whenever we hear the phrase Epstein files, this
is the man that we are talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So what do we need to know about his relationship
with Prince Andrew specifically?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So, Prince Andrew and Epstein's friendship is one of the
key parts of why we are talking about Prince Andrew
today because it's been basically the key part of all
of the headlines that have been circulating around him for
the past six years. Now, what you need to know
is that one of Epstein's accusers is a woman named
Virginia Giffray.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Now that name may be familiar to our listeners because
Virginia Giffrey died earlier this year. She actually had been
living in Australia for some time, but she claimed she
was trafficked by Epstein as well as his former partner
Glaine Maxwell, and forced to engage in sexual activity with
Prince Andrew when she was underage. So her story specifically
(03:43):
focused on Prince Andrew's involvement, and Giuffrey died by suicide
earlier this year, right.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Exactly, And you might remember all listeners might remember that
infamous interview that Prince Andrew did all the way back
in twenty nineteen with the BBC. Now, that interview did
these allegations that were brought forward by Virginia Jeffrey that
she was raped by Prince Andrew, And in that interview
(04:09):
he famously said that or he famously denied the allegations
because he said that he was at a pizza joint
on the night of the alleged rape.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yep, there is a very infamous photo that I'm sure
a lot of people are thinking of in their mind
right now where Virginia Duffrey is photographed with Prince Andrew
and also Glaine Maxwell, the former partner of Jeffrey Epstein.
But Prince Andrew denied that that photo was legitimate. He's
always maintained that it was photoshopped or docted in some way.
(04:39):
That interview. I think it's fair to say Billy did
not go well for Prince Andrew. It was not received
in kind of the court of public opinion as clearing
his name exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
He has always denied the allegations against him, and he
has also repeatedly rejected allegations of any wrongdoing in connection
to Epstein, however, saying that he did settle a lawsuit
with Virginia Juffrey in twenty twenty two without admitting any wrongdoing.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
We'll bring you more of today's deep dive right after
a quick word from our sponsor. Okay, so, Billy, you've
given us the background. Who is Prince Andrew, Who is
Jeffrey Epstein, Who is Virginia Juffrey. But why are we
talking about these people today?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So over the weekend it was announced that Prince Andrew
is giving up his royal titles. So that means he
has resigned his title as the Duke of York and
also the Order of the Garter membership, which is the
most senior level of knighthood in the UK.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Okay, so it's not just that he is no longer
a duke. He's also no longer a.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Knight exactly, which is quite a rare thing for members
of the royal family to do. For example, Prince Harry,
even though he has stepped away completely from the royal family,
he's still the Duke of Sussex. So I think that
just gives you a signal of how rare this is.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, or kind of in you know, recent history if
a royal family member does denounce their title or walk
away from that, it's for reasons, like, you know, they
want to live and work a quote unquote normal life
away from the public purse of the royal family. They
don't want to do the roles that come with the
responsibilities of being part of the royal family. Or you know,
(06:19):
in the case of to people who watched the Crown,
they will know in the case of you know, love affairs, marriages,
wanting to marry a divorced person, et cetera, et cetera.
I guess those are the kinds of reasons over the
last one hundred odd years that people would renounce their titles. Yes.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So, in a statement, Andrews said that quote the continued
accusations against him were distracting from the work of the
royal family, and he also repeated his denial of any wrongdoing.
He emphasized in that statement that this was a decision
that was made in consultation with the King, so King Charles,
his brother. He also added, I have decided, as I
(06:59):
always have to put duty to my family and country first.
I stand by my decision five years ago to stand
back from public life.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Okay, So he has stepped away from his titles, but
he actually stepped away from the kind of formalities of
being part of the royal family a long time ago.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So he did that about five years ago, right after
the BBC interview came out that we talked about earlier,
because the backlash against him was so strong. One thing
I want to note before we go on is that
you might recognize that we're still saying Prince Andrew. And
this is something I was confused about because I was like,
do we still call him Prince Andrew? Yep. He says
(07:40):
that he will keep that title of Prince, so even
though he's no longer Duke of York, he's still technically
Prince Andrew, so that's the only one that he will keep.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I was going to say, even if he wasn't keeping that,
I feel that the media would continue to call him
Prince Andrew anyway, in the same way that he still
refer to Princess Catherine as Kate Middleton.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And then I got confused about what's his last name?
If we do just call him Andrew anyway, it's all
very confusing.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
It's very confusing. Okay, So obviously, Billy, it's been a
tumultuous period of about six or so years for Prince Andrew,
these long term, long standing, historical allegations of abuse. But
why has he stepped away from that title the Duke
of York?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Now?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Like what has happened in the immediate short term that
would prompt him to go a step further.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
There are a few things. One is that Virginia Jeffray's
posthumous memoir is being published this week, it's actually today
when this episode goes out, and that recounts the story
of how Epstein introduced her to Prince Andrew, and it
also details the alleged rape. Again, she was underage when
these alleged rapes plural took place. Yep. Another thing that
(08:55):
has come up recently has been Prince Andrew's relationship with
a prominent figure involved in a China spying case. That's
kind of a whole other thing. I definitely think it's
worth mentioning, but I don't know if we need to
go into too much detail there. I think just know
that that is there. And then the other thing, which
I think is most likely to be the big trigger here,
(09:17):
is that on Sunday, which the timelines might be a
bit confusing here, But on Sunday some leaked emails came
out and it is very possible that he got a
heads up that this article with these leaked emails were
about to be published.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Okay, so we don't know for sure, but I suppose
you can assume. And given how things do kind of
operate with the royal family's relationship with the tabloid media,
it's such a different beast over in the UK. But
you know, they would have a lot of sources within
a tabloid publication like the Daily Mail, who probably would
have reached out and said, Hi, we're going to publish
(09:54):
this story. Do you have a comment? And I guess yeah,
we don't know for sure. It's just speculation, but I think,
you know, people will make their own minds up about
the timing. Yes, so tell me about the leaked emails though, like,
what did that say?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
So the Daily Mail in the UK, they claimed through
these leaked emails that Prince Andrew tried to use his
police protection which he accesses by being a member of
the royal family, to obtain personal information about Virginia Giffrey
back in twenty eleven, before the newspaper was about to
(10:28):
publish a photo of Jeffrey and Andrew, the one that
we were just talking about for the first time. Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
So this allegation is implying that Prince Andrew was trying
to dig up dirt about Virginia Jiffrey to discredit her. Yes, okay,
and if that is true, that would be a kind
of an abuse of his power as a member of
the royal family.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Those are the allegations.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, okay, So now that that is out there, what's
been the fall out scence?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
The fallout since has been that the police has confirmed
that they are now investigating those claims. Okay, So a
Metropolitan Police spokesperson has told the media we are aware
of media reporting and are actively looking into the claims made.
So no charges have been laid. We have no further
information or we know is that police are looking into
(11:21):
these allegations because, like we said, it could be an
abuse of power if it is true.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Really a fascinating development in this case. I feel like
everything Epstein related is just continuing to intensify, whether it's
over in the US, the Epstein files or these ongoing
investigations and allegations surrounding Prince Andrew. One thing is for sure,
though we will be hearing more about it in the
days and weeks to come, and we'll keep you updated
on the daily hours. We will thank you so much
(11:49):
for listening to today's podcast. If this episode raised any
issues for you, help is available through Lifeline on thirteen
eleven fourteen or one eight hundred. Respect will pop some
links to reach sources in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Bungelung Calkatin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
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