A former aide to David Cameron when he was British prime minister said he heard Prince Andrew use the N-word in a moment that left him "reeling."

"If you’ll pardon the expression, that really is the [N-word] in the woodpile," Rohan Silva recalled Andrew saying in a Monday article in the Evening Standard. Silva said the prince made the comment during a trade discussion at a 2012 meeting at Buckingham Palace.

"I remember distinctly how I walked blinking into the sunshine outside Buckingham Palace, reeling at the prince’s use of language," Silva said about the comment. "For a long time after, I kicked myself for not confronting the prince on his choice of words — and it’s something I still regret today. He clearly wasn’t taken to task very often by the people around him, which meant offensive language could go unchallenged."

The Palace has denied the claim he used the N-word and reportedly sent a legal letter to the Evening Standard.

The column comes as Andrew sat down for an interview Sunday in which he "categorically" denied allegations against him of sex abuse. The prince has been tied to similar charges made against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with whom he was friends.

Virginia Giuffre, who has accused Epstein of sex abuse, claims Andrew raped her three times when she was 17 years old between 2001 and 2002. "I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever," the prince said, despite the existence of a picture showing the pair together.



Simple question for @Ali @JackPosobiec @Cernovich



Do you think Jeff Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre (pictured here, with Prince Andrew and Ghisela Maxwell) is telling the truth about Dershowitz or not? pic.twitter.com/4d6gA2ilix — 𝙻𝚎𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚑𝚊𝚗 ⏳ (@stranahan) July 27, 2019



Lawyers for Epstein's victims want the 59-year-old prince to cooperate with the FBI in their investigation of the late financier's sex crimes.