Billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s friend Prince Andrew is mired in scandal again but shows little remorse or humility. Parliament must strip him of his titles and find a way of ejecting him from Royal Lodge, writes Rebecca McQuillan

Why should we admire the royals? For their dutiful service, as some would see it? Their commitment to charity work? As helpful ambassadors for the UK? Or are we meant to look up to them just because they’re posh and rich?

Guess which one applies to Prince Andrew. He has spent his life getting away with stuff because of the pitiful British habit of deference to the posh and rich. Instead of dull but dutiful service to his country, he has used his status to pursue a sleazy playboy lifestyle. His charity work – all royals enjoy that PR boon – is wholly unmemorable.

Far from being an ambassador, he has humiliated the UK with a series of scandals which have been highly instructive for demonstrating his unpleasant character, sense of entitlement and titanic stupidity. The worst by far is Andrew’s horrible, creepy involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, and the persistent accusation from one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, that she was forced to have sex with the prince three times, including when she was 17. She says in her posthumous memoir that he knew her age.

It’s also been alleged that he asked his police protection officer to investigate Giuffre, giving the officer her date of birth and confidential social........

© Herald Scotland