His three-day visit is part of an official state tour aiming to strengthen ties between the UK and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Just hours before it was set to get underway on Monday, William and Kate, the Princess of Wales, broke their silence on the escalating Andrew scandal in an apparent bid to make their stance clear and draw a line in the sand to keep focus on the upcoming visit.<\/p>\n
The royal couple, via a Kensington Palace spokesman, said they were \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d about \u201ccontinuing revelations\u201d surrounding the former Duke of York and Epstein.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can confirm the Prince and Princess of Wales have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations,\u201d the spokesman told journalists, who had travelled to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to cover William\u2019s official three-day visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir thoughts remain focused on the victims.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just hours later, the King also released an explosive statement via Buckingham Palace, declaring that he stood \u201cready\u201d to support police investigations into his disgraced brother.<\/p>\n
It was confirmed earlier that day that Thames Valley Police is now looking into allegations that he shared confidential documents with the convicted sex offender while working in an official capacity as the UK trade envoy.<\/p>\n
Andrew has always denied all allegations of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s conduct,\u201d the Palace said on Monday night (local time). <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the specific claims in question are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs was previously stated, their Majesties\u2019 thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like William, during a royal visit on Monday, the monarch was also confronted with a question about Andrew while meeting with wellwishers at Clitheroe train station, in England\u2019s northwest.<\/p>\n
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – FEBRUARY 10: Prince William, Prince of Wales learns about Saudi\u2019s gaming ecosystem as he attends an E-Sports tournament on day two of his first official visit to Saudi Arabia at Boulevard City on February 10, 2026. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
In footage shared online, a man\u2019s voice was heard shouting: \u201cHow long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, a number of royal fans were heard booing the man, while the King did not show a reaction and continued shaking people\u2019s hands. Shortly afterwards, he waved goodbye and was whisked off in his car.<\/p>\n
It comes just days after a similarly uncomfortable incident during a royal engagement by the King and Queen in Dedham, Essex, east of London, where someone was heard shouting: \u201cCharles, Charles, have you pressurised the police to start investigating Andrew?\u201d<\/p>\n
The ongoing scandal surrounding Andrew has continued to deepen in recent days after the release of millions of Epstein files by the US Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
He had previously been accused of having sex with a then-17-year-old Virginia Giuffre, nee Virginia Roberts, while she was being trafficked by Epstein.<\/p>\n
Among the more recent claims are that a second woman was also sent to the UK by the late billionaire for a sexual encounter with Andrew, which it is alleged occurred on royal property.<\/p>\n
Andrew has vehemently denied the allegations<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His three-day visit is part of an official state tour aiming to strengthen ties between the UK and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1443,20251,38110,4608,3595,69895,69700,2837,156133,2004,156,4505,111,139,69,5908,4940,17146,38109,9644,1315,128729,10744],"class_list":["post-277880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-about","tag-andrew","tag-arabia","tag-awkward","tag-by","tag-confronted","tag-dodged","tag-during","tag-embroiling","tag-engagement","tag-entertainment","tag-moment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-official","tag-prince","tag-questions","tag-saudi","tag-scandal","tag-trip","tag-uncle","tag-william"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}