As Prince Andrew prepares for the shocking possibility that he could have to pay off his sexual assault accuser, he has received a painful financial blow.
I can reveal that a business controlled by the Queen's second son has plunged into £200,000 of debt.
Urramoor Ltd, which was used to manage investments, slipped deeper into the red, according to newly filed accounts.
Prince Andrew, who faces a highly damaging U.S. court case brought by Virginia Roberts, is listed as having 'significant influence or control over the trustees of a trust' using the name HRH Andrew Inverness.
Urramoor Ltd, a business which is controlled by Prince Andrew (pictured leaving the Royal Lodge), has plunged into £200,000 of debt, according to newly filed accounts
The use of the name Inverness, which stems from his title Earl of Inverness, led to concern that he was attempting to avoid scrutiny over his involvement.
Last week, Andrew was asked not to use his HRH handle in any official capacity by the Queen.
It was also announced by Buckingham Palace that he would be facing the lawsuit by Ms Roberts (now known as Virginia Giuffre) as a private citizen.
Urramoor Ltd was set up in 2013, 18 months after he was forced to step down as a UK trade envoy over his relationship with the late Jeffery Epstein, the financier convicted of child sex offences.
It has been described in the past as the 'private investment office of HRH Duke of York' by another company with which it worked.
The paperwork, covering the 12 months to the end of March last year, is signed off by chartered accountant Arthur Lancaster, who is also a director of the business.
Prince Andrew faces a highly damaging US court case brought by Virginia Roberts (pictured). Buckingham Palace that he would be facing the lawsuit as a private citizen
Ms Roberts claims she was sex-trafficked by Epstein, and has alleged she was forced to sleep with the Duke of York (both pictured) three times when she was 17, in 2001
Earlier this month, it was reported that Prince Andrew had sold his £17 million Swiss chalet, enabling him to pay off a £6.7 million debt with French socialite Isabelle de Rouvre.
It also left him with around £10 million, which some believe could be needed for the court action over his alleged relationship with Ms Roberts.
She claims she was sex-trafficked by Epstein, and has alleged she was forced to sleep with the Duke of York three times when she was 17, in 2001.
Andrew has vehemently denied her claims.
CAMILLA CRAVES A 'NORMAL' BEAU
As the Marquess of Waterford's daughter — named as one of the new generation of 'It Girls' by Tatler — Lady Camilla Beresford might be expected to court suitors from society's upper echelons.
However, the aspiring fashion designer, 26, whose father's 2,500-acre Curraghmore Estate is the largest in private hands in Ireland, says she favours chaps from the lower orders.
Lady Camilla Beresford (pictured), whose father's 2,500-acre Curraghmore Estate is the largest in private hands in Ireland, says she favours chaps from the lower orders
'I do 100 per cent prefer dating more normal men to aristocrats,' she tells me at a private view of artist Alex von Moltke's digitised
