In a rare statement, Britain’s Prince Andrew attempts to distance himself from Jeffery Epstein as new photos of them together surface. The Duke of York has previously faced accusations related to Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring. NBC’s Kelly Cobiella reports for TODAY.
The woman filmed with Prince Andrew at Jeffrey Epstein’s New York home has been identified as the socialite daughter of a former prime minister of Australia, according to reports.
The Sydney Morning Herald first noted the “striking resemblance” of Katherine Keating to the woman, whom the royal greets as she leaves Epstein’s Upper East Side mega-mansion in December 2010.
The video showed Prince Andrew waving goodbye to a woman believed to be Katherine Keating, apparently unconcerned that he might be seen at the home of a convicted pedophile.
Keating had visited Epstein's home after he was released from a Florida prison following his guilty plea to child sex charges, and on the same day Prince Andrew had been photographed walking in a New York park with Epstein, sparking a royal scandal which continues to dog the Prince.
A week before the footage surfaced last month Epstein committed suicide in a jail while awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking.
And while there is no suggestion that Keating, the daughter of former Prime Minister Paul Keating, was involved in any of Epstein's criminal activities, it was her unexpected appearance in the footage featuring Prince Andrew taken outside Epstein's house which continues to have tongues wagging across Australia.
PS can reveal that Keating and Prince Andrew had struck up a firm friendship some nine months before they were filmed together, initially meeting at a lavish party in Dubai.
They were among guests invited to the opening of the no-expense-spared Meydan Racecourse.
Over the course of a weekend in March 2010, Keating met Prince Andrew, and was seen by his side several times at a series of celebrations to mark the grand opening of the enormous facility which Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, had personally overseen.
"They looked to be getting on very well and I saw her with him several times over the course of the weekend. The appeared very friendly but it was clear she had only met him on that weekend," another guest at the party told PS on the grounds of anonymity.
While most of the international guest list had no idea who Keating was, a contingent of high profile Australians had also been invited by the Sheik, whose global thoroughbred stud Darley has operations in Scone.
"A few of us made note of her, especially when she was getting along so well with Prince Andrew," the guest recalled.
Keating left Sydney for New York in 2010, when she began dating millionaire playboy hotelier Andre Balazs, another associate of Epstein, who is among the names listed in the billionaire's now infamous address book.
The daughter of a former Australian prime minister — who caused a scandal when video surfaced recently showing her leaving Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2010 — had actually gone there to visit her friend Prince Andrew, not the convicted pedophile, a new report claims.
Socialite Katherine Keating became friends with the prince when she met him at a party in Dubai in early 2010, and was slowly welcomed into Epstein’s circle when she later moved to the Big Apple later that year, the Sydney Morning Herald report alleges.
Keating, now 37, became embroiled in the Epstein controversy last month when embarrassing footage emerged of her leaving Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion — smiling and waving goodbye to Prince Andrew, who is alleged to be one of Epstein’s most high-profile clients.
Speculation ran rampant that she was somehow connected to the creepy financier.
But one unnamed guest at the Dubai party has come forward to distance Keating, at least somewhat, from the convicted pedophile — telling the Herald that she was only ever pals with the prince.
Keating — the daughter of former Australian prime minister Paul Keating — left Sydney for the Big Apple in 2010 to be closer to her then-boyfriend, millionaire hotelier Andrew Balazs — among the names included in Epstein’s infamous address book, according to the Herald.
