Prince Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, has broken hersilence coming to the defense of the royal following allegations made that he had sexwith an underage woman between 1999 – 2002.
Though the Duchess of York declined to comment directly onthe claims when asked by the Daily Mail, she did say: “The York family is atight unit. We’ve always been a tight unit. He is the greatest man there is. Itwas the finest moment of my life in 1986 when I married him. He is a great man,the best man in the world.”
Sarah along with their daughter Princess Eugenie was vacationing with Andrew in Verbier, Switzerland. While she has stayed back, QueenElizabeth’s second son left the ski resort on Sunday evening so he could holdtalks with the monarch, senior aides and his legal team.
The Palace has “emphatically denied” the allegations and arestrongly backing the Prince after Florida court documents were made publicnaming him in the involvement of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s case. In it, a woman claims that when she was 17, she was forced to beintimate with the royal.
Buckingham Palace released not one but two statements denyingany involvement. Its initial statement read: "Thisrelates to long-running and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States towhich the Duke of York is not a party. As such we would not comment in detail,however, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety withunderage minors is categorically untrue."
Jeffrey served 13 of his 18-month jail sentence in 2008 andis now listed as a registered sex offender.
Prince Andrew, who is fifth in line to the throne, iscontinuing to go about his life and is expected to move forward with hisscheduled public engagement in Switzerland on January 21. There, he will behosting a reception for foreign ministers on behalf of the British government.