Jeffrey Epstein ‘planned to blackmail the Queen by blackmailing Prince Andrew’

Sarah Ferguson’s former lover John Bryan said Jeffrey Epstein’s ultimate goal is to extort money from the Queen by blackmailing Prince Andrew, he claims.

Mr Bryan – who was famously caught by paparazzi sucking Fergie’s toes while on holiday in the south of France – claims Prince Andrew and Epstein’s relationship was a “blackmail scheme”.

The 67-year-old US businessman gave Fergie his “honest” advice after the bombastic BBC interview with Prince Andrew, he said.

Mr Bryan told the Mail on Sunday: “People always ask how Epstein made his money. He should be that control wizard. But it was all cheating.

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“He blackmailed rich men and then made them pay to avoid a scandal. This is how he made hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Epstein tried to lure Andrew into his net but I think his ultimate goal was the queen.

“I believe Andrew is innocent. If he really was involved in “orgies” as has been claimed, then Epstein would have used this to try to bribe the Queen into paying out millions to protect her family. Andrew never had any money. The queen was the one with money.

“I genuinely believe Epstein was after her, but Andrew never gave him the ammunition to do so.”

The photos were taken after Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s split was publicly announced in 1992.

The couple were married from 1986 until they finally divorced in 1996.

However, Mr Bryan has claimed he was asked for his “honest” advice on how to rebuild the Duke of York’s reputation following the infamous interview that led to his retirement from royal life.

Mr Bryan had maintained a close relationship with the Duchess over the years and holidayed with Sarah and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in 1992.

During his disastrous interview, Andrew recounted how he was introduced to Epstein in 1999 by the pedophile’s ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The Duke said he will see Epstein up to three times a year.

He admitted hosting him and Maxwell at Sandringham in December 2000 for a “simple weekend of filming” and that he was staying at Epstein’s New York mansion in 2010 when he came to visit to sever ties with the pedophile.

Epstein took his own life in a New York prison in 2019 before he could be tried for sex trafficking.

Maxwell was sentenced in June to 20 years in prison for procuring teenage girls whom Epstein allegedly abused.

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