Explosive court documents released hours before Jeffrey Epstein's apparent suicide last week revealed that UK Prince Andrew, the eighth in line to the British throne, was named in a 2015 lawsuit against an alleged "madame" for the US financier's purported child sex trafficking ring.

A video, whose authenticity is yet to be verified, emerged last night showing Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, in Jeffrey Epstein's New York mansion shortly after the billionaire sex offender left in the company of a young blonde, the Daily Mail reported.

The footage, presumably filmed on 6 December 2010 and released online last night, featured a blonde leaving the estate together with the disgraced financier, who served a 13-month prison term in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution. She accompanied him to his car and then rushed back to the front door.

“IT WAS THE DUKE IT WAS THE DUKE”PrinceAndrew gives a nod and a cheery wave to the pretty brunette as she leaves the £63 million Manhattan mansion. The footage #DukeOfYork was taken less than an hour after #Epstein left the house in the company of a young, shivering blonde woman. pic.twitter.com/xpMBwDD67h — The Daddy Phantom (@DaddyPhantom) 17 августа 2019 г.

Shortly thereafter, Prince Andrew is seen looking out from behind the door as he waves goodbye to a brunette, leaving Epstein's house.

The Daily Mail cited an unnamed source as saying that the prince looked "entirely at ease" in the mansion, and that "there were girls coming and going", while everyone "knew by that point that Epstein was a convicted paedophile, yet he was flaunting his lifestyle in plain sight".

"When the Prince came to the door I was stunned. He looked totally at ease. He said a few words to the girl, who was very pretty, and then she walked off down the street in the direction of Central Park. If I hadn't known it was Prince Andrew, I would have thought he owned the place. He looked so comfortable and relaxed as he stood there at the door. He didn't appear to have a concern in the world as he smiled and waved goodbye to the girl. It was only as the girl walked off that he glanced around the door frame, almost as if to check no one was watching", the source continued.

The footage was reportedly taken less than 24 hours after the Duke of York was photographed walking through Central Park with Epstein.

“Prince Andrew is pictured with paedophile businessman Jeffrey Epstein as the men stroll around Central Park in December 2010” pic.twitter.com/3zKRSKBREp — Head Mistress at Wash Your Foot Bottom Academy (@wickdchiq) 12 августа 2019 г.

The video was released slightly over a week after Epstein killed himself in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York, where he was awaiting trial on child sex trafficking allegations. After he was arrested on 6 July, unsealed court documents revealed that Prince Andrew was named in a 2015 lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, who is alleged to be a "madame" for Epstein's supposed underage girl sex trafficking circuit.

Plaintiff Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed that the British Queen's son groped her when she was a minor at Epstein's New York mansion and she was used as a "sex slave" to perform various acts with different famous men, including Prince Andrew.

“Prince Andrew pictured with Virginia Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell in the rear, in early 2001” pic.twitter.com/VDicPxVdXM — Head Mistress at Wash Your Foot Bottom Academy (@wickdchiq) 12 августа 2019 г.

Buckingham Palace has repeatedly denied any inappropriate association between Andrew and Epstein, while a spokesman told the Daily Mail last month, "The Duke of York has not visited any home of Mr Epstein or met with him since December 2010 when the photograph in Central Park was taken".

It has been reported that Prince Andrew went into "panic" mode over renewed scrutiny of his alleged friendship with Epstein and left for Spain with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson earlier this week.