Prince Andrew ‘in torment’ ahead of Jeffrey Epstein court docs

Prince Andrew is said to be bracing for an uncomfortable New Year after learning his name will appear alongside those of over 170 people with ties to Jeffrey Epstein in a trove of soon-to-be unsealed court documents.

The Duke of York is “totally tormented” over the anticipated release in January of the documents filed in a since-settled defamation lawsuit Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre brought against the convicted pedophile’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, back in 2015, The Daily Mail reported Sunday.

“Andrew’s name is in there,” a source told the Mail. “He is beside himself with this latest development and everyone close to him is concerned for his mental wellbeing.”

The disgraced British royal was stripped of his HRH [“His Royal Highness”] moniker and several of his patronages last year by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, over his ties to the late sex offender.

“He is facing his second Christmas without his mother and now the New Year is going to start with his name being dragged through the mud all over again,” the sources told the Mail.

Andrew, 63, is expected to spend Christmas at Sandringham with his brother King Charles III and the other members of the royal family.

Manhattan federal Judge Loretta Preska last week ordered the release of the documents naming scores of people with links to Epstein, who killed himself in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Under the ruling, dozens of individuals — who have previously been referred to as “Jane Does” or “John Does” in various court filings linked to Giuffre’s suit — will be identified publicly when the materials are “unsealed in full” this January.

The judge gave those individuals — who include Epstein victims and former employees — 14 days to appeal the decision, according to the order.

Several people who are likely to be ID’d in the unsealed papers have previously spoken out in media interviews about their working relationships with the convicted pedophile – or how they were abused by him — over the years, the ruling states.

The defamation suit, which was settled in 2017 for an undisclosed amount, had centered on Giuffre’s claim that Maxwell defamed her by saying that she was lying about being sex-trafficked by Epstein when she was a teen.

Andrew was captured in a now-infamous shot with his arm around a then-17-year-old Giuffre as Maxwell smiled in the background.

Maxwell was convicted in late 2021 of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.