Prince Andrewmade a surprise return to royal life on Saturday night.
The Duke of York — who stepped down from public lifein Novemberfollowingrevelations about his tiesto sex offenderJeffrey Epstein— visited Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the U.K.
Liu Xiaoming tweeted shortly after the visit that Andrew had delivered a message of sympathy to the Chinese people fromQueen Elizabethover their struggles to contain the deadlycoronavirusoutbreak.
“Her Majesty The Queen sent an encouraging message to President Xi and Chinese people: At the critical time of fighting #coronavirus, I express my sincere sympathy for Chinese people, and pray for the speedy control and victory over the virus,” Liu Xiaoming tweeted alongside pictures of him meeting Andrew and his family.
“My wife and I invited Duke of York and his family to our residence and celebrated Chinese New Year,” he added.
Ambassador Liu Xiaoming/Twitter
This is the first time that Andrew has been seen on an outing of this caliber since his bombshell interview with BBC Newsnight host Emily Maitlis — even if it was officially carried out in a private capacity.
This is despite Andrew claiming in the disastrous BBC interview that he was“willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required.”
Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein.Ian Forsyth/Getty Images; Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan
Lisa Bloom, the attorney representing five of Epstein’s accusers, toldBBC Newsnight, “I’m glad that Geoffrey Berman has gone public to try to embarrass Prince Andrew, who made one statement and then behind closed doors is doing something very different.”
Last week it also emerged that with Prince Andrew’s 60th birthday approaching on February 19th, councils across the U.K. have been forced toreconsider their flag-flying policy.
“We are working with the Royal Household to consider how flag-flying policy can be applied in changing circumstances, such as when a member of the Royal Family steps back from public duties,” a government source told People.
source: people.com
