Britain's Prince Andrew is to hold crisis talks with Queen Elizabeth over claims he had sex a 17-year-old American girl.
The allegations made by Virginia Roberts, which are detailed in US court papers, allege that she was forced to sleep with the British royal on three occasions when she was 17 by his former friend Jeffrey Epstein, who she alleges turned her into a sex slave.
In the court papers, Roberts claims that between 1999 and 2002 she "was forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor" in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by her then-employer Epstein.
Although the legal age of consent is 16 in the UK, it was and still is 18 in Florida where the court papers were filed.
Although Buckingham Palace has denied the accusations, Andrew's mother Queen Elizabeth is said to be embarrassed that they have even come to light.
A source explained: "The queen will be totally appalled by all this. I would imagine she feels hard done by on Andrew's behalf for this slamming he is getting and for all the Âallegations. "We are told Andrew is her favourite son and there is a close bond. She has guided him through stormy waters before and the Epstein thing is something that keeps coming back to haunt them. They must think that they've seen the last of it but it's a Ârecurring nightmare as far as the queen and the Duke of York are concerned."
The queen is fearful that the allegations made against the prince - who has two children, Princess Beatrice, 26, and Princess Eugenie, 24, with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson - will damage the reputation of the British royal family.
The source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Inevitably this will cause damage to the monarchy. I think it's going to get messier before it gets better."
Prince Andrew, 54, is flying back from Verbier, Switzerland, to hold talks with the queen, royal lawyers and aides about the allegations made by Roberts, which the prince has already strongly denied.
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