Trump's Past BFF Behavior With Prince Andrew Says It All About Their Relationship With The Royal Family

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In the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," it's not hard to connect Prince Andrew and Donald Trump. Prince Andrew had a controversial friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and registered sex offender, as did Trump. That's why it's not a big surprise that Trump's name came up in what has been released of the Epstein files. Epstein died by suicide in August 2019, but his legacy, as it were, looms large over both men. But not only were both men buddies with Epstein, Prince Andrew and Trump reportedly spent time together, including playing golf together at Mar-a-Lago. It seems likely that the royal family doesn't much appreciate the reminder of this overlap between the disgraced royal and the president, particularly as it's coming to light not long before Trump's upcoming state visit to the U.K.

The Daily Mail reported that the upcoming book "Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York" includes details about the relationship between Trump and Prince Andrew. They both went to Heidi Klum's famous Halloween party in 2000 where Trump said of the prince, "He's not pretentious. He's a lot of fun to be with," per the Daily Mail. The book also states that at another time, the two men crassly discussed women.

Even before this fresh confirmation that Prince Andrew and Trump were friendly with each other and close with Epstein, they both appear to have a somewhat tenuous relationship with the royal family. Prince Andrew lost his royal patronages and military titles after Virginia Giuffre accused him of sexual assault. And both King Charles III and William, Prince of Wales, have apparently not always been that impressed with Trump's behavior.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Donald Trump has his own connection to Virginia Giuffre. One of the recent reasons that Trump said his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein came to an end was because he was unhappy that Epstein had stolen spa employees, including Giuffre, from Mar-a-Lago. Reigniting conversation about the Prince Andrew scandal with Giuffre, which we'd guess the royal family very much wants to put firmly behind them, may be unavoidable with Trump's visit. 

Trump will be visiting the U.K. in September 2025, and the timing means he won't be able to make a speech at parliament. However, there's a likelihood that he'll be speaking at the state banquet, and there are some who think he might bring up politics. Trump's not known for sticking to a politically correct script, and on his most recent trip to the U.K., he made some controversial anti-immigration comments (Trump also got caught cheating at golf while he was there).

With all the potential for drama, it will be interesting to see if there are any meetings between Prince Andrew and Trump during the visit or if Epstein comes up, though the latter seems inevitable. There's currently a fundraiser to put posters up around London of images of Epstein and Trump together for the visit. Trump himself is trying to distance himself from being associated with Epstein in the U.S. Despite he and his team previously saying they wanted to make the Epstein files public, they've now changed their tune. It's another one of those things that Trump claimed on the campaign trail that turned out not to be true.