Prince Andrew: Royal expert flags 'concerns' after duke finds funds to stay at Royal Lodge

Concerns remain at how used business contacts made through , a royal expert has claimed.

Andrew Lownie, who is writing a joint biography of the Duke and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, flagged the worry in reaction to news .

Mr Lownie said: "As the Duke himself admitted in his Newsnight interview, Jeffrey Epstein introduced him to useful business contacts. He also developed lucrative connections in Central Asia and the Middle East during his ten years as special representative for trade and investment. There have long been concerns about how he has since used those contacts. Now he is no longer a working royal, there is far less scrutiny of his business activities — but it is an area that needs to be looked at."

, court files showed earlier this year. This revelation sparked the long-running situation dubbed "the siege of Royal Lodge," during which .

But King Charles's patience with his brother slowly "ran out" over the course of the year, according to . The monarch had asked his brother to leave the estate, offering him Prince Harry's and Meghan Markle's former home, , as an alternative. Duke of York, though, remained defiant.

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Father-of-two Andrew had “daily massages” during frequent visits to Epstein's pad, the legal papers also said. Andrew's relationship with the late paedophile has faced scrutiny in recent years.

The court documents emerged earlier this year as part of a 2015 lawsuit filed against by one of Epstein's victims, Virginia Giuffre. She is one of dozens of women who sued Epstein saying he had abused them at his homes in Florida, New York, the US Virgin Islands and New Mexico.

Giuffre said the summer she turned 17, she was lured away from a job as a spa attendant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club to become a "masseuse" for Epstein - a job that involved performing sexual acts. Duke of York denies all allegations.