Prince Andrew speaks to BBC about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

The Duke of York has spoken for the first time about his links to Jeffrey Epstein in an interview with the BBC.

He spoke to BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis in a interview recorded at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.

Maitlis said it was a “no holds barred interview”, which will be broadcast on BBC Two at 21:00 GMT on Saturday.

The duke faces serious claims over his ties to the 66-year-old US financier, who took his own life while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

In 2015, Prince Andrew was named in court papers as part of a US civil case against Epstein.

One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts – now Virginia Giuffre – said she was forced to have sex with the duke three times – in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein – between 1999 and 2002, when she was under-age according to Florida state’s law.

Separately, a woman called Johanna Sjoberg alleged that the duke touched her breast while they sat on a couch in Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2001 in documents from a defamation case.

Buckingham Palace has issued strong denials of all allegations against the duke.

In 2015 a statement said that “any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors” by the duke was “categorically untrue”.