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Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway is speaking out about her association with Jeffrey Epstein.
“I would never have had anything to do with Epstein if I had been aware of the seriousness of his criminal acts,” Crown Princess Mette-Marit said in a written statement sent from the palace toDN. “I should have examined Epstein’s past more closely, and I regret that I did not.”
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“One of the meetings was at Epstein’s home,” Guri Varpe, communications chief at the Royal Palace, toldDN. “In addition, the crown princess had a brief meeting with Epstein once when he was in Oslo.”
Mette-Marit’s husband, Crown Prince Haakon, reportedly met Epstein “on the street” while they were on holiday in St. Barts in 2012. “Then Crown Prince Haakon greeted Epstein for the first and only time,” according to Varpe.
Varpe also stated that Princess Mette-Marit did not “know about the extent and character of the criminal acts he had admitted to and served time for” or “about the offenses that were later revealed either.”
Jeffrey Epstein.Uncredited/AP/Shutterstock
Virginia Giuffre, who says she was trafficked to have sex with Prince Andrew, is speaking out in a new interview.
“I implore the people in the U.K. to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being okay,” Giuffre, formerly Virginia Roberts, tells theBBC’sPanoramaairing Monday evening in the U.K. “This is not some sordid sex story. This is a story of being trafficked. This is a story of abuse and this is a story of your guys’ royalty.”
The palace told the BBC that the Duke of York, 59, “unequivocally regrets his ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein” and “deeply sympathizes with those affected who want some form of closure.”
The palace also reiterated that “it is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”
Alexander Koerner/Getty; Today
Prince Andrew told journalist Emily Maitlis ofGiuffre’s allegations, “I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever. It just never happened.”
source: people.com
