Meghan Markle ‘troubled’ by Prince Andrew saying sex is a ‘positive act’

Prince Andrew’s suggestion that sex is a ‘positive act’ for a man, so therefore difficult to forget, is said to have left Meghan Markle ‘troubled’. 

A source, described as ‘close to The Duchess of Sussex’ spoke to The Daily Telegraph criticising his BBC Newsnight interview and describing Meghan’s reaction to seeing it. 

After a week of catastrophic headlines for Prince Andrew, in which his charities have abandoned him, Meghan’s camp hit out at the Duke.

‘The interview left everyone watching it wanting to curl under a table. It just got worse and worse and worse,’ a source close to the Duchess of Sussex’s team said.

The Duke of York, 59, made the comments during a disastrous Newsnight interview with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis last weekend. 

He was asked whether he’d ever had sex with Virginia Roberts, now Virginia Giuffre, or any other woman trafficked by convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

To which he responded that he can’t have done, because to have sex with someone is a ‘positive act’ and therefore is ‘very difficult to forget’.  

His appearance on BBC Two, seemingly designed put an end to questions over his relationship with Epstein, has led to humiliation for the Duke.  

Meghan, 38, who has championed the cause of female victims of violence, is now reportedly struggling with the fallout of his interview. 

When approached about the purported comments made by Meghan’s people, Buckingham Palace declined to comment.  

Andrew maintained he does not recall meeting Mrs Giuffre and did not spend time with her at Tramp Nightclub in London on March 10 in 2001 after which she claims the pair first had sex. 

A photograph apparently showing Andrew with his arm around then 17-year-old Roberts, now Giuffre, that evening and with Epstein’s friend Ghislaine Maxwell standing in the background, has been widely published. Supporters of Andrew, however, have disputed its authenticity. 

The duke denied he slept with her on three separate occasions, with Mrs Giuffre having alleged in court documents she ‘was forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor’.

Asked by Maitlis if he’d ever had sex with Mrs Giuffre, he said: ‘No and without putting too fine a point on it, if you’re 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.’      

The Duchess of Sussex, who is an avid campaigner for the rights of women and girls, is said to be uncomfortable by the Duke’s justification, The Daily Telegraph reports. 

Since the disastrous Newsnight interview, the Duke of York has reportedly resigned from his role with his flagship business project Pitch@Palace after days of speculation about his future with the successful initiative he founded.

Andrew appears to have bowed to pressure and stepped down, with the move coming a day after one sponsor said his plans to continue leading Pitch were ‘not tenable’.

The Daily Telegraph reported sources as saying Andrew was no longer leading Pitch, which would continue without any royal involvement. 

The project is said to have created 6,000 jobs over five years and was, one courtier said, one of the ‘few’ real success stories of Andrew’s roller-coaster royal career. 

He was fighting ‘tooth and nail’ to keep it – hence his defiance in initially planning to travel to Bahrain this weekend. 

High profile business sponsors KPMG, Standard Chartered and Inmarsat, a British satellite telecommunications company, have all said they will not be renewing their financial support for Pitch while Barclays, a partner of the project, ended its association with the initiative on Friday.

Royal Insiders who spoke to the Daily Mirror said it was increasingly likely now that all the organisations he is a patron of – more than 175 – will ditch him.   

While Andrew’s decision to step back from public life means he will no longer be able to pick up the bill for expensive travel from taxpayers, he is still likely to pocket as much as £250,000 a year, the sum he is rumoured to receive privately from the Queen to run his office.

Unlike the Sovereign Grant, which is government money, Andrew’s annual upkeep is paid from the Privy Purse, which is provided by the Duchy of Lancaster – land and assets owned by the Queen.

But, as ‘significant’ controller of Pitch@Palace, he will be entitled to two per cent of any deals made through the scheme for three years, the Daily Telegraph reports. 

It is also understood that he will be able to hold events at palaces on commercial bases, with one planned for Pitch@Palace at St James’s next month. 

But, it has emerged that the the Queen could be left with a huge tax bill as a result of this – with him not longer being a working member of the Royal Family. 

David McClure, the author of Royal Legacy, an investigation into the House of Windsor’s finances, said as Andrew now has no royal role, she would no longer be able to write off the estimated £1million-a-year cost of Pitch as a business expense, according to the Express.

The beleaguered royal also faces the prospect of Mrs Giuffre being interviewed on BBC’s Panorama programme early in December.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) was among a number of organisations which announced on Friday they would no longer be involved with Andrew, following the controversy around his friendship with Epstein.

In a statement, an RPO spokesperson said: ‘Following HRH The Duke of York’s announcement that he will be stepping back from public life, management representatives of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) met with Prince Andrew’s office on Thursday afternoon.

‘At a subsequent meeting of the RPO Board, it was decided that the Orchestra should part company with its patron, with immediate effect.

‘The RPO would like to express its gratitude to His Royal Highness for his support of the Orchestra over the past 15 years.’

Another arts body also reportedly severed its ties, with the English National Ballet accepting Andrew’s resignation from his role as patron.

Andrew was expected to travel to the Middle East this weekend as part of his Pitch project but has cancelled plans following reported pressure from his family.

He was pictured on Friday out riding with the Queen in the grounds around Windsor Castle with two other riders.

It has also been reported his private secretary, Amanda Thirsk, has been removed from her palace-funded role and will instead become the chief executive of Pitch. 

Ms Thirsk, believed to have been the driving force behind Andrew’s BBC Newsnight interview, will now run the business mentorship scheme for start-ups and tech entrepreneurs after she was dismissed on Thursday.

Ms Thirsk will also manage the Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award after the duke quit his life as a working royal on Wednesday.

It has also been reported Buckingham Palace was disturbed by the mention of Andrew’s relationship with Epstein in the ITV election debate on Tuesday. 

The Times said senior aides and the Prince of Wales advised the Queen that Andrew should be withdrawn from public life after concerns the scandal was overshadowing the democratic process.

Charles, who is on an official visit to New Zealand, was quizzed about events in the UK but ignored the question from a reporter about whether his brother should speak to US investigators about Epstein.

The duke will continue to work on Pitch and will look at how he takes this forward outside of his public duties, and outside of Buckingham Palace

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman would not comment on reports the duke had stepped down from leading Pitch.

She said: ‘The duke will continue to work on Pitch and will look at how he takes this forward outside of his public duties, and outside of Buckingham Palace.

‘We recognise there will be a period of time while this transition takes place.’ 

The Outward Bound Trust, which Andrew has supported for decades, accepted his resignation as patron and Huddersfield University confirmed the duke would be relinquishing his role as its chancellor.  

After the BBC interview, Andrew faced criticism for showing a lack of empathy towards Epstein’s victims and a lack of remorse over his friendship with the financier, who took his own life while in prison earlier this year awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.

The duke has denied claims he slept with Ms Giuffre, on three separate occasions, twice while she was underage.

The Prince of Wales will be fuming with his brother after the bungled BBC Newsnight interview and his decision to invite his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, to Buckingham Palace yesterday, experts on Charles have told MailOnline.

Prince Charles is set to fly back to the UK from his royal tour on Monday, when he is expected to read his younger brother the riot act. 

A royal aide yesterday confirmed that Beatrice and Eugenie will continue with a limited number of royal duties as before.

‘The Princesses do undertake a small number of royal engagements each year, as and when asked, and that will continue,’ a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

So we will see them on the Palace balcony after Trooping The Colour, at a couple of garden parties and the occasional evening reception. But that, it seems, will be it.

Andrew’s years of lobbying for the ‘blood Princesses’ to have a greater role in The Firm — something that brought him into conflict with Prince Charles and his vision of a slimmed-down monarchy — has finally been thwarted.