Royal Fans React to Family’s Prince Andrew Birthday Tribute Amid Jeffrey Epstein Drama: ‘This Is Awkward’

It might not have been the wisest move. The official British royal family Instagram account shared a tribute to Prince Andrew in honor of his birthday on February 19, and royal fans weren’t thrilled with the move in the wake of his alleged involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

“On this day in 1960, Prince Andrew was born at Buckingham Palace, the first child born to a reigning monarch for 103 years,” the post’s caption read. “Happy Birthday to The Duke of York.” Immediately, the critical comments rolled in.

“Hmmmm. I am not sure this message is appropriate considering what he has been a part of,” one person wrote. Someone else said, “Umm 🤔 this is awkward.” And a different person commented, “Happy birthday … now go to the FBI, the party is over.” Yikes.

In fact, a lot of people alluded to Prince Andrew’s alleged involvement in the Epstein situation and his friendship with the disgraced, late financier. In May 2006, Epstein was charged with multiple counts of unlawful sex acts with a minor and eventually pleaded guilty on two lesser counts and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. He was also arrested and indicted for sex trafficking of underage girls in July 2019 but was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell of an apparent suicide on August 20, 2019.

Buckingham Palace has tried to downplay the extent of Prince Andrew and Epstein’s friendship, and during an interview in November, he denied sleeping with Virginia Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, in 2001 when she was just 17 years old. (Giuffre is one of the 16 women who claim they were sex trafficked by Epstein.)

But the stain of the scandal still looms over Prince Andrew, even after he announced he was stepping away from his royal responsibilities in a statement on November 20. Some members of the family were happy with the move — for instance, a source told In Touch exclusively that Prince William and his wife, Duchess Kate (née Middleton), were “relieved” he stepped down because “they were really concerned he’d make a bad situation worse by continuing his royal duties.”

But apparently, whoever runs the royal family’s Instagram account did not get the message. “All things considered, this post is a little tone-deaf,” someone commented. That’s putting it lightly.