Queen admits 'bumpy' year in Christmas message

LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II will describe 2019 as "quite bumpy" in her traditional Christmas Day message, after a year of crises which saw Britain divided over its impending exit from the European Union and her son Prince Andrew forced to withdraw from public life.

The 93-year-old monarch, whose husband Philip is receiving treatment in hospital, will use her televised address on Wednesday to reflect on the need for reconciliation.


The royal family was swept up in scandals that included a calamitous BBC interview with the queen's second son who tried to distance himself from American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The interview in which Andrew denied having sex with one of Epstein's alleged victims was widely ridiculed and reportedly criticized within Buckingham Palace, forcing him to "step back from public duties".

In a portion of her Christmas speech released in advance, the queen says the life of Jesus shows the importance of reconciliation.

It teaches "how small steps taken in faith and in hope can overcome long-held differences and deep-seated divisions to bring harmony and understanding," she says.

"The path, of course, is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference."

'HE'S ALRIGHT'

Britain endured a year of political drama linked to its delayed withdrawal from the European Union.

The queen was dragged into the saga when she approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson's request to suspend parliament in August -- with opponents accusing him of trying to close down debate on Brexit.

The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that Johnson's request had been unlawful. 

The monarch has only symbolic power -- by convention, she always follows the advice of her ministers and Johnson was widely criticized for having put her in an impossible position.

The queen's grandson Prince Harry and his American former actress wife Meghan Markle were also in the news, speaking about their struggles living in the public eye.

Prince Harry took legal action against two tabloids in October accusing them of intercepting voicemail messages.

Meghan filed a separate case against a newspaper that published excerpts of a letter her estranged father wrote to her.

Prince Philip's difficult year began with a car accident in which two women were injured. The police found the 98-year-old responsible but brought no charges.

Buckingham Palace has released little information about Philip's condition since his hospitalization on Friday for "treatment in relation to a pre-existing condition".

"He's alright," Philip's son Charles told a reporter during a visit in northern England on Monday.

"Once you get to that age things don't work as well."

'SPIRIT OF RECONCILIATION'

The queen has remained one of Britain's most popular figures despite the royal family's travails.

A poll by YouGov in November showed 72 percent of respondents had a positive opinion of the monarch.

Prince Charles's approval was just 46 percent.

The queen's Christmas Day message reflects on the heroism of British forces during the D-Day landings in Normandy that turned the course of World War II in 1944.

In June she made an increasingly rare trip to abroad to attend the 75th anniversary commemorations in France.

"For the 75th anniversary of that decisive battle, in a true spirit of reconciliation, those who had formerly been sworn enemies came together in friendly commemorations either side of the Channel, putting past differences behind them," the queen says in her message.

"By being willing to put past differences behind us and move forward together, we honor the freedom and democracy once won for us at so great a cost."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Britain's Prince Andrew 'categorically' denies sex claims

LONDON -- Britain's Prince Andrew said he could not have had sex with a teenage girl at a socialite's London home because he returned to his house after a children's party on the night in question and has no recollection of ever meeting her.

The rare interview was an attempt to draw a line under a scandal after months of headlines about Andrew's ties to the U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in August while being held on federal sex-trafficking charges.

Speaking publicly for the first time about his relationship with Epstein, Queen Elizabeth's second son gave an at times rambling and contradictory account. He said Epstein's behavior had been "unbecoming," but that he does not regret their friendship because of the opportunities it gave him to meet business people.

One of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Giuffre, has said she was forced to have sex with Andrew in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island between 1999 and 2002, when she says Epstein kept her as a "sex slave."

During the hour-long BBC interview broadcast on Saturday, Andrew gave a series of reasons why her account of meeting him sweating and dancing almost two decades ago at a London nightclub before having sex with him could not be true, including the fact he suffered from a medical condition that stopped him perspiring.

He also said that on the night he was alleged to have met her he was at home with his family after visiting a Pizza Express restaurant in Woking with his daughter Beatrice.

"I can absolutely, categorically tell you it never happened," Andrew said. "I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever."

He defended his relationship with Epstein, saying it opened up opportunities as he transitioned out of the Navy.

"The people that I met and the opportunities that I was given to learn either by him or because of him were actually very useful," he said.

Andrew also said he stayed at Epstein's home in New York after the financier's conviction because he was "too honorable". Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state prostitution charges.

"It was a convenient place to stay," Andrew said. "But at the time I felt it was the honorable and right thing to do and I admit fully that my judgment was probably colored by my tendency to be too honorable but that's just the way it is."

Giuffre, who was previously named Virginia Roberts, has said that she first had sex with Andrew when she was 17 and underage.

A picture showing the prince with his arm around Giuffre's waist from 2001 has appeared in British media. Andrew said that he recognized himself in the photograph, but he questioned its authenticity.

"I don't believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested," Andrew said in the interview. "I don't recollect that photograph ever being taken."

He has previously denied any inappropriate relations with Giuffre.

Gloria Allred, a lawyer acting for alleged victims of Epstein, said Andrew should answer questions under oath.

"There is so much truth that is yet to be revealed," she told Reuters. The prince should "should agree to testify under oath and also he should voluntarily agree to speak to law enforcement."

PREVIOUS DENIALS

When the allegations were first made, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said it was "emphatically denied" that Andrew had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Giuffre.

Andrew has previously said he stood by the palace statements and recently apologized over his friendship with Epstein.

The prince said he only visited Epstein's New York home in 2010 after his release from prison in order to break off the friendship. The former investment banker was then a registered sex offender.

Epstein, 66, died by hanging himself in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10.

Andrew said he had seen no signs Epstein was procuring young girls for sex trafficking and that as patron of a UK charity campaign against child abuse he was alert to the dangers.

"I knew what the things were to look for, but I never saw them," he said.

He appeared to be open to giving a statement under oath, saying in the interview: "If push came to shove and the legal advice was to do so, then I would be duty-bound to do so." 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Prince Andrew steps up denial of underage sex

LONDON/NEW YORK - Buckingham Palace stepped up its denial that Prince Andrew had sex with an underage girl introduced to him by a disgraced U.S. financier, and named the alleged victim whose anonymity was preserved in court documents filed last week.

Buckingham Palace had already denied on Friday allegations made in Florida court documents by the woman, who said she was forced as a minor by financier Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with several people, including Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth.

Another of those named by the woman, well-known American attorney Alan Dershowitz, said he has assembled a team of "eminent" lawyers to fight the sexual abuse allegations made against him in last week's filing in Florida federal court.

The allegations come from a woman who is named in the filing as Jane Doe #3, but Buckingham Palace referred to her as Virginia Roberts. Several British newspapers have also named the woman.

Dershowitz represented Epstein against criminal sex abuse charges, which ended in a plea deal six years ago under which Epstein served jail time for state charges but avoided federal prosecution. Last week's filing was made in a long-running civil litigation brought against the U.S. government over the plea agreement by women who say they were abused by Epstein.

On Sunday, Buckingham Palace issued its second denial of wrong-doing by Prince Andrew. "It is emphatically denied that HRH The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. The allegations made are false and without any foundation," a palace spokesman said.

Dershowitz told Reuters that his team of attorneys included Thomas Scott, a former Florida U.S. attorney and former federal judge, and Kendall Coffey, another former Florida U.S. Attorney, as well as lawyers in Boston, New York and London whom he declined to name.

He said the allegations against him were false, and that the attorneys who filed them - Florida attorney Brad Edwards and University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell - knew they were false.

Dershowitz, a Harvard University professor emeritus, said he planned to file complaints with the attorney disciplinary boards of Florida and Utah seeking to have them disbarred. Knowingly making false court filings is grounds for disbarment in both states.

Dershowitz also said he would file a motion to join in the Florida civil action, by making a sworn statement in Florida federal court denying the charges.

He said the allegations against him were especially unfair because they were made in a court case where he was not a party, so that he had no chance to respond directly.

"It's like Josef K in Kafka," he said. "The difference is that Josef K lost. In the end I will prevail. They took on the wrong innocent person."

Edwards and Cassell said in a joint statement that they looked forward to Dershowitz's filing.

"It is not unethical to provide legal representation to the victim of international sex trafficking ring and to believe in the allegations such a victim makes - even when those allegations are made against powerful people," they said.

Buckingham Palace also denied on Sunday that the Queen had met Virginia Roberts.

The woman's father, Sky Roberts, was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying that his daughter had been introduced to the Queen while visiting London with Epstein.

When asked about this, a palace spokesman said: "there is nothing to suggest that this claim is true. We have no record of such a meeting."

On Saturday, some British newspapers published an old photograph of Prince Andrew holding the waist of the woman, then aged 17. The age of consent is 16 in Britain, but it is 18 in much of the United States.

People making a criminal complaint of rape in England have a legal right to anonymity unless they choose to waive it.

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