MEGHAN Markle was left “troubled” by Prince Andrew’s car crash interview, it has been claimed.
The Duke of York stepped down from his royal duties this week after facing widespread criticism for his friendship with paedo financier Jeffrey Epstein.
And a friend of the Duchess of Sussex said the 38-year-old was among those to be left concerned over the answers Prince Andrew gave to BBC journalist Emily Maitlis.
At one point, the reporter asked the 59-year-old royal if he had ever had sex with Virginia Giuffre Roberts or “any young woman trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein”.
Prince Andrew replied: “No and without putting too fine a point on it, if youre a man it is a positive act to have sex with somebody.
“You have to take some sort of positive action and so therefore if you try to forget it’s very difficult to try and forget a positive action and I do not remember anything.”
A source said Meghan – a feminist who regularly campaigns for women’s rights – was left “troubled” by Prince Andrew’s comments.
The friendtold the Telegraph the interview had “left everyone watching it wanting to curl under a table. It just got worse and worse and worse”.
And Harriet Wistrich, a lawyer at the Centre for Womens Justice, said on Friday: This clearly suggests a very sexist stereotypical view of sex as something men do to women.
“It also makes no sense as to why it would be more likely you would remember it. The whole sentence and interview has no authenticity about it.
It has been a disastrous week for the beleaguered Duke of York after his nightmare BBC interview on Saturday:
- HE was accused of using theN-word in a conversation with a business expert of Sri Lankan descent in 2012. He denied the allegation;
- SOURCES said the scandalhad placed growing strain on the Queen, who is having to cope without retired Prince Philip while Prince Charles is on a tour in New Zealand;
- STUDENTS voted in favour oflobbying Andrew to stand down as chancellor of Huddersfield University;
- FRIENDS said he wished he hadexpressed more sympathyfor billionaire Epsteins victims; and
- POLICE in France issued an English language appeal for women who may have been assaulted by Epstein at his Paris flat to come forward.
Alleged victim Virginia Roberts is now expected to have her interview with BBC Panorama aired next month.
Virginia Roberts, 35, is said to repeat claims the Duke of York bedded her when she was 17 and branded his recent denial of the claims as appalling.
Ms Roberts claims that billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein trafficked her to London from the US.
Prince Andrewis now under massive pressure aftersponsors withdrew their backing for him over his role in the Epstein scandal.
The financier, who killed himself in jail in August ahead of a trial for sex trafficking minors, had a private island there where he is said to have held orgies involving under-age girls.
City giant KPMG pulled out of the royal’s international business platform Pitch@Palace and the Outward Bound charity could also axe him as patron.
Prince Andrew is pictured arriving at Harry and Meghan’s wedding
