The announcement follows, after a decent interval, the intense pressure the prince and ministers came under in March following the revelation that he had maintained contact with the American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was jailed in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution, and that Epstein had given £15,000 to Andrew‘s former wife Sarah Ferguson to reduce some of her debts. The prince acknowledged he had made a mistake after a photograph of him with Epstein in New York was published.