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Prince Andrew faces further embarrassment after a judge ruled that documents relating to an alleged “sex slave” can be released.

The US Appeals Court has said that 2,000 pages of papers from a ­defamation suit by Virginia Giuffre, who claims that billionaire businessman Jeffrey Epstein used her as a sex slave, can be made public.

Epstein has been found dead in his prison cell in New York. He is believed to have committed suicide.

The court said the documents contain potentially damaging information about sexual abuse by “prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known Prime Minister and other world leaders”.

In its 27-page ruling, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the public’s right of access to court papers overrode the privacy concerns of individuals.

The records will not be made public immediately, as mystery litigants have about two weeks to file a request for all 2nd Circuit judges to consider their arguments for keeping them sealed.

Prince Andrew was pictured with his arm around Virginia’s waist after Epstein, 66, flew her to London to meet the royal in 2001, when she was 17.

In 2015, Giuffre, previously known as Virginia Roberts, told a Florida court that Epstein forced her to have sex with Andrew while in London, New York and the Caribbean.

Prince Andrew, 59, has vehemently and consistently denied the claims. A judge threw out her allegations against the prince because they were “immaterial and impertinent to the central claim” against Epstein.

Giuffre claimed she was used as a “sex slave” by Epstein, who was charged last week with trafficking girls as young as 14. He faces up to 40 years if convicted.

She alleged she had been “procured for sexual activities” by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 57, daughter of disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell.

Ms Maxwell was Epstein’s aide and also a friend of Prince Andrew.

The 2001 photo of Andrew with Giuffre was taken in Ghislaine’s London flat.

In 2015, Maxwell, also Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, called Giuffre a “liar” in an interview, leading the alleged sex slave to sue for defamation.

(Image: Getty Images)

The case was later settled but around 2,000 documents were sealed.

On Saturday, the Mirror told how, in 2010, Andrew partied with Epstein at the billionaire’s New York mansion just weeks after the shamed businessman was released from a 13-month sentence for soliciting girls as young as 14 for sex.

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The financier threw an “intimate dinner” party with the prince and director Woody Allen at his Manhattan townhouse, where the prince was allegedly treated like a “guest of honour”.

Andrew was also photographed deep in conversation with Epstein in Central Park after his release.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the prince, who previously holidayed with Epstein in Thailand and invited him to stay at Sandringham and Windsor Castle, had not seen his friend since the Central Park photo was taken.

He said: “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.”