Jeffrey Epstein’s long-term butler has told how Prince Andrew enjoyed afternoon tea in Saint-Tropez with his boss and disgraced British photographer David Hamilton
Prince Andrew socialised with a fourth man accused of having sex with young teenage girls, it has been claimed.
Andrew’s connections to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, suspected sex trafficker Jean-Luc Brunel and fashion mogul Peter Nygard – jailed for sexually assaulting four women including a girl aged 16 – are well reported.
And now Epstein’s long-term butler has told how Andrew enjoyed afternoon tea in Saint-Tropez with his boss and disgraced British photographer David Hamilton.
Hamilton, known for his nude images of young girls, took his own life in Paris in 2016, shortly after four women alleged he had raped them while they were in their early teens.
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A victim of Epstein said: “Andrew’s repeated associations with men accused of exploiting minors raise serious questions about his judgment and the company he keeps.”
Speaking for the first time, Valdson Vieira Cotrin, who was in service to billionaire Epstein in the French capital for 18 years, said Andrew and Hamilton “came for tea” at a property in Saint-Tropez in the early 2000s.
Hamilton, 82, killed himself weeks after prominent French TV presenter Flavie Flament said he had raped her when she was 13. Other women levelled similar accusations at him, which he denied.
He was the third convicted or suspected paedophile to die by suicide after being accused of underage sexual abuse who has also been linked to Andrew.
As well as Epstein, who was found guilty of child sex charges and died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting another trial for underage sex trafficking, Brunel also killed himself. The modelling agent, a close pal of Epstein’s, was found hanged in his cell in Paris in 2022.
The 76-year-old was being investigated on suspicion of the rape of minors and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation. It was claimed he spent time on Epstein’s private island with the prince.
Canadian fashion mogul Nyard, 84, is still alive. Last year he was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting four women, including a girl aged 16.
Nygard lured young women with false modelling promises before assaulting them, his trial heard.
According to reports, Andrew and ex-wife Fergie visited Nygard in 2000 at his estate in the Bahamas, which had a helipad and casino. Meanwhile, butler Cotrin told the Telegraph he met Andrew at Epstein’s flat in Paris and in New York and that the prince and the billionaire paedophile dined together “five or six” times at Epstein’s Paris townhouse, always accompanied by taxpayer-funded bodyguards.
There is no evidence that Prince Andrew was aware of any illicit activity by these four men.
However, the claims deepen the scrutiny surrounding his links with people later convicted or credibly accused of heinous sexual offences.
Epstein’s victim said: “The pattern of powerful men surrounding themselves with accused abusers and then distancing themselves while victims suffer is all too familiar.
“Prince Andrew’s ties to these men should not be ignored, and victims deserve answers and justice.”