Prince Andrew May Be Using a Classic Celebrity-Gossip Tactic to Clear His Name

It’s a classic move from the celebrity-scandal playbook: When the press is flush with negative headlines, anonymous comments from a friend go a long way to switch up the narrative. Lori Loughlin has seemed to use this approach liberally since her name was connected with the college-admissions scandal, and Meghan Markle might have used it when five of her friends commented to People to, in part, put the drama with her father, Thomas Markle, to rest once and for all. Prince Andrew has been embroiled in a scandal surrounding his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein on and off for almost 10 years, only now the pressure is intensifying. So the prince also seems to be consulting that celebrity playbook—though with an added twist worthy of Donald Trump.

On Wednesday multiple tabloids published comments from friends of Andrew, reiterating his denials of any impropriety and speculating that the photo showing the prince and his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, together was a fabrication. One even told the Evening Standard that it felt like a “witch hunt.” But like the time in November 2017 when reports claimed that Trump thought the Access Hollywood tape was fake, speculation that the photo was doctored doesn’t seem to clear up much about what happened in 2001.

The main piece of evidence? Andrew’s fingers are chubby, but the fingers in the photograph are slender, “like a girl’s fingers,” one source told the Telegraph. “A tabloid newspaper paid a lot of money years ago for a copy of this photo. But no one has ever seen the original. Doesn’t that seem strange?” the source continued. “Sadly—it seems to us—this girl is simply out to make a name for herself.”

The Evening Standard’s source added, “Claims that Miss Roberts went to Tramp nightclub in London with the duke and he was drinking cocktails with her are just not true. The duke doesn’t drink, he is teetotal, anyone who really knows him knows that.” Within hours the Daily Mail published another photo of Andrew stepping out from a nightclub in a similar outfit a few months earlier—and a few photos of his fingers for comparison’s sake.

On Saturday, Andrew released a third statement about Epstein. “I met Mr Epstein in 1999. During the time I knew him, I saw him infrequently and probably no more than only once or twice a year. I have stayed in a number of his residences,” he wrote. “At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.” It’s unusual for any royal to respond this much to a public scandal, but it seems likely that Andrew is already bracing for more coverage.