Prince Andrew reportedly hopes to consider 'reframing' his royal duties, but it's unlikely that his inactive role will be reevaluated

• Prince Andrew resigned from official royal duties as the Duke of York in November 2019 following scrutiny for his friendship with the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
• The Sunday Times reported Saturday Prince Andrew is said to be planning a "reframing" of his role in the royal family if he can "resolve legal issues with the US authorities investigating Epstein."
• Buckingham Palace has not announced any plans to reevaluate Prince Andrew's resignation, and a spokesperson for the palace told the Times they have "no plans to review" his role.
• In July, the US Justice Department said Prince Andrew still had yet to cooperate with federal investigators — despite the duke saying in November 2019 that he was "willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required."
• The Times' report follows the newly unsealed 2016 deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell, which included information where Prince Andrew's name was redacted.

The Sunday Times reported Saturday Prince Andrew is said to be planning a "reframing" of his role in the royal family if he can "resolve legal issues with the US authorities investigating Epstein."

The Times' report says Prince Andrew is considering "how he can serve his country."

"The duke is spending time working out how he can serve his country and support the monarchy in the future, and what else he might want to do with his life," a source close to Prince Andrew told the Times' royal correspondent Roya Nikkhah.

The source continued, telling the Times Prince Andrew is "locked down at Royal Lodge, thinking about his future service and public role," referencing the location where the duke is residing — which is the royal family's private residence in Windsor.

"He has some clear thoughts," the source told the outlet.

Prince Andrew stepped back from his public royal duties in November 2019 after coming under scrutiny for his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 in jail awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.

The Times' report that suggests Prince Andrew could be considering a "reframing" of his involvement in the royal family comes after his name appeared in — but was redacted from — a newly unsealed deposition from Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Epstein.

The 418-page deposition, which was released by a New York appeals court on Thursday, was given by Maxwell in 2016 and was part of a 2015 civil case brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Giuffre claimed that as a teenager, she was a victim of sex trafficking by Epstein and Maxwell.

Prince Andrew has denied allegations that he had sex with Giuffre, then known as Virginia Roberts, on three occasions when she underage as part of Epstein and Maxwell's trafficking operation.

Maxwell spoke of Prince Andrew in her 2016 testimony, but his name has been redacted from the documents. According to the deposition's index, Prince Andrew's name was redacted from pages where Maxwell answered questions about a puppet that looked like the royal figure, which she described as a "caricature."

Prince Andrew had allegedly used it in sexual relations with underage girls. In the deposition, Maxwell denied giving the puppet to Prince Andrew as a gift but said that she did recall seeing the puppet at Epstein's home.

Buckingham Palace officials have maintained that Prince Andrew resigned and wasn't forced to step down

During his November 2019 "BBC Newsnight" interview with Emily Maitlis, Prince Andrew claimed that a photo taken of him with his hand around the waist of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, where Maxwell is pictured in the background, was doctored.

Four days after his now-infamous interview, which the British media labeled a "car crash," Prince Andrew announced that he would be stepping down from his role as a working member of the royal family.

At the time, he shared a statement published by the Royal Family's official social media accounts. Prince Andrew's statement says that the Queen gave her permission for him to "step back from royal duties for the foreseeable future."

When contacted by Insider in November 2019, representatives for the Duke of York said that the statement spoke for itself. A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace previously told Insider's Mikhaila Friel that Prince Andrew came to the decision to resign on his own after speaking with members of the royal family.

Buckingham Palace has not made clear any plans to review Prince Andrew's inactive role

Representatives for Buckingham Palace and the Duke of York, respectively, did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment about the possibility of reviewing Prince Andrew's role in the royal family.

However, the Sunday Times' report published on Saturday cites a Buckingham Palace spokesperson that says there are "no plans to review" Prince Andrew's role.

In his resignation statement, Prince Andrew wrote that he was "willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required."

However, in July, US Justice Department prosecutors said that Prince Andrew had yet to cooperate with federal investigators seeking to interview him about his relationship with Epstein, Insider's Haven Orecchio-Egresitz reported.

Also in July, eight months after he resigned from his role, Prince Andrew's official royal website was taken down.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told Insider's Mikhaila Friel at the time that the duke's website was no longer available because "the contract with the host provider for the website came to an end."

The royal family's official website still has a page dedicated to Prince Andrew at the time of writing, which includes a disclaimer, reading: "In November 2019, His Royal Highness The Duke of York stepped back from his public duties for the foreseeable future."

Read the full report from The Sunday Times here.

• Read more:
• The Palace's treatment of Prince Andrew, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry's royal exits reveals a big double standard
• How Prince Andrew's voluntary decision to do a prime-time interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein set his reputation on fire and tanked his royal career
• Ghislaine Maxwell denied gifting Prince Andrew the puppet he allegedly used to grope young women