In an email exchange that has come to light as part of the Epstein Files currently being reviewed by the US Congress, the paedophile financier asked Andrew to set up a meeting with Katherine Keating
Prince Andrew reportedly offered to help paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein set up a meeting with the attractive daughter of the Australian prime minister.
Reports say in an email Epstein wrote to Andrew on February 16 2011, he asked: “Would you ask Katherine Keating if she would like to come for dinner with Woody Allen next week in New York?” to which the prince replied: “Will do.”
The correspondence between Epstein and Andrew, which forms part of the Epstein Files currently being reviewed by the US Congress, is reported to include a follow-up message from Epstein two days later, on the prince’s 51st birthday.
Is it said Epstein wrote: “What will you do tomorrow? Sorry I cannot be there as you get older.” Andrew responded: “Having a very quiet day. But a dinner party in the evening. On the Keating case.”
Discussing her links to Epstein for the first time, Ms Keating, now 44, has confirmed Andrew “fixed” her a 2011 dinner with Epstein.
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“I did attend a February dinner at Andrew’s invitation – a large social event,” she told the Mail on Sunday.
The brunette was snapped two months earlier waving goodbye to Andrew when he stayed at Epstein’s New York mansion for another dinner hosted by the financier.
At the time of the email exchange between Epstein and Andrew the Australian socialite was 29 years old. She is the daughter for former Australian Prime minister Paul Keating who famously put his arm around Queen Elizabeth, earning himself the nickname ‘The Lizard of Oz’.
Ms Keating described the gathering as a “large social event,” adding: “A sizable chunk of NY society was there, including [American broadcasters] Barbara Walters, Charlie Rose and Katie Couric. At the time, I had only lived in NY about ten weeks, and was happy to accept the odd social invitation.”
There is no suggestion that Ms Keating was any part of, or knew anything about, any improper or illegal conduct by Epstein or any of his associates.
Andrew was pictured walking in Central Park with Epstein during a subsequent trip to New York, which he told Emily Maitlis during his ‘car crash’ Newsnight interview he had made in order to tell Epstein he wanted to break off contact.
However it was revealed recently that Andrew had stayed in touch with the paedophile, promising in a 2011 email that the pair would “play some more soon”.
It remains unclear how Andrew originally came to know Ms Keating. Some reports have suggested that she knew Ghislaine Maxwell, a friend of both Andrew and Epstein, who is currently in jail serving a 20 year sentence for sex trafficking.
