Buckingham Palace says new claims against Prince Andrew are of 'serious and grave concern'

A Buckingham Palace source has said that the latest allegations against Prince Andrew regarding the late Virginia Giuffre are of "very serious and grave concern" and should be "examined in the appropriate way". The latest bombshell to hit the former Duke of York, who has given up his royal titles and honours following the latest furore, was about how he allegedly tried to to get the Metropolitan Police to dig up dirt for a smear campaign against his abuse accuser, Ms Giuffre.

The force said it is looking into the allegations after the Mail on Sunday claimed Andrew passed Ms Giuffre's date of birth and social security number to his taxpayer-funded bodyguard in 2011 and asked him to investigate. It comes amid the publication of Ms Giuffre's posthumous memoirs in which she wrote that Andrew's team tried to hire "internet trolls to hassle" her.

In her harrowing book, Nobody's Girl, which will be published on Tuesday, October 21, she recounted her allegations of an orgy with Andrew and paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and "eight other young girls".

She also told how she dressed like her idols Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera when she claimed to first meet the prince when she was 17 - wearing the outfit in the famous photo which showed a grinning Andrew with his arm around her waist.

The King's brother relinquished his Duke of York title on Friday amid intensified focus on his links with Epstein, and on Ms Giuffre's allegations, which Andrew vehemently denies, that she was forced to have sex with the prince three times after being trafficked by Epstein.

A Palace source said action was needed because of "what lies at the heart of this, the broader allegations and the issues highlighted".

They added that the "new allegations that have been brought up" are of "very serious and grave concern" and "should be examined in the appropriate way".

Pressure is growing on the Royal Family to go further by backing a move to formally strip Andrew of his dukedom through parliamentary legislation.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the question of legislation was "a matter for the palace in the first instance" and that ministers "support the judgment of the King"' regarding Andrew's titles.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell has called on Parliament to "act" over removing Andrew's titles, while the SNP's leader at Westminster Stephen Flynn said there is "no justification" for the UK Government not to bring forward an Act to do so, saying the British public were "angry and aghast".