The Duke has confirmed that he
will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday and
Friday, when his annual attendance is likely to attract rather more attention
than usual.
He has been lying low at Royal
Lodge, his home in Windsor, since Virginia Roberts claimed she was paid to have
sex three times with him when she was the 17-year-old “sex slave” of the Duke’s
former friend Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
The Duke has categorically
denied having any sexual relations with Miss Roberts, who made the claims in
court papers in the US which emerged at the start of January.
He announced his attendance at
Davos via his official Facebook page, though royal sources said his ninth visit
to the conference had been in his diary for months and had never been in doubt.
He will travel to Davos on
Thursday and stay for one night. The main event of the trip will be a reception
for entrepreneurs at which he hopes three people starting up their own companies
will meet others who can mentor them and possibly invest in their ventures.
They will be selected from a
group of start-up entrepreneurs who attended an event called Pitch@ThePalace in
St James’s Palace last year, a Dragons’ Den-style event where they pitched
their ideas to some of the country’s most successful businessmen and women.
The Duke’s staff have found
themselves in the unusual situation of having to consider how to accommodate
the media at the event, following a clamour from newspapers and television
stations to film Prince Andrew. In the past his presence has attracted little
media attention.
The Duke is understood to be
meeting his own travel and accommodation costs for the visit to Davos, though
he will be accompanied by police bodyguards funded by the taxpayer.
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