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Prince Andrew represented the British royal family Saturday at a major diplomatic event abroad, even as worldwide attention is focused on the scandal over his friendship with convicted pedophile and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

New reports also emerged over the weekend that say Andrew, 59, flew into a “furious rage” at a royal aide, which forced Prince Charles to intervene, and that he was chummy enough with Epstein to invite him to Princess Beatrice’s 18th birthday party in 2006 — days before the now-deceased financier’s first arrest in a sex trafficking operation.

But Queen Elizabeth’s second son tried to act like he was not in the midst of this turmoil by attending an event in Bruges, Belgium, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of that country from German forces during World War II. For the ceremony, Andrew dressed in a military uniform and placed a wreath on a stand at a memorial.

It was a strange display, with reports saying Andrew appeared “tense” as he fumbled his attempt to hook the wreath on the memorial. The Duke of York also ignored a TV reporter’s question about whether he would cooperate with U.S. lawyers representing Epstein’s alleged victims, the Telegraph reported.

Reports interpreted Andrew’s nervous demeanor as a possible sign of the stress he must be under since Epstein’s Aug. 10 suicide in a Manhattan jail, where he was awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges.

Andrew, who is eighth in line to the royal throne, is accused of having sex with Virginia Roberts Giuffre when she was 17. Giuffre also has accused Epstein of being one of his underage “sex slaves.”

Andrew and Buckingham Palace have unsuccessfully tried to make the scandal go away with his terse denials that he had sex with Giuffre or that he witnessed or participated in any Epstein’s alleged trafficking of girls and young women.

Prince Andrew accuser urges him to 'come clean' as he 'knows what he's done'https://t.co/mXXjtanewp pic.twitter.com/m9y6InuyQn — Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) August 27, 2019

As Andrew was trying to put on the stiff upper lip in Bruges, the new reports further documented his ties to Epstein and pointed to his increasingly problematic role in the royal family.

The first report, from the Daily Mail, said that Andrew flew into such a “furious rage” at a royal aide that Prince Charles had to intervene and ask his younger brother to apologize.

It’s not known what made Andrew so upset, but a source close to him confirmed to the Daily Mail that the outburst occurred, saying that Andrew “got very cross.” But this friend rejected a suggestion from “a well-placed royal insider” that Andrew physically assaulted the aide, only saying that “heated words on both sides were exchanged.”

“It was a verbal dispute. It was a work-related issue,” the friend told the Daily Mail. “The duke got very cross that what he wanted wasn’t possible.”

If nothing else, the report adds to Andrew’s reputation for being boorish and rude to staff, the Daily Mail reported. It also raises questions about how much Charles, as the future king, will be willing to tolerate. Previous reports have suggested that Charles is angry that Andrew has dragged the royal family into his Epstein-related tawdriness and long worried that his brother’s association with the financier was “a disaster waiting to happen.”

Charles’ concerns appear to be well-placed, especially after the Daily Mail also reported this weekend that Andrew invited Epstein to attend the lavish, Victorian-themed 18th birthday party that he and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, threw in 2006 for Princess Beatrice, their older daughter.

Andrew’s guest list also included Ghislaine Maxwell and disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The gala cost nearly $500,000 and featured female guests donning opulent Victorian-style gowns with corsets and bustles, the Daily Mail said.

Paedophile Jeffrey Epstein attended ??Princess Beatrice's 18th birthday https://t.co/Ogc53WzU4h via @MailOnline — Rosanna Arquette🆘 (@RoArquette) September 9, 2019

Maxwell, a British socialite, reportedly is a mutual friend of Andrew and Epstein. She has been accused by Epstein’s victims of being his “madam.” That is, she allegedly recruited underage girls and young women to have sex with Epstein.

One of those girls is Giuffre, now 36. She has claimed in an 2011 interview and a 2015 lawsuit that Maxwell groomed her as a teenager to give Epstein massages and to have sex with his powerful friends, including with Andrew. She said her three encounters with Andrew occurred in 2001 when she was 17. The Sacramento-born Giuffre recently urged Andrew to “come clean” about Epstein’s alleged abuses of girls and women.

Andrew has sought to downplay the closeness of his friendship with Epstein, referring to their “association” and saying in a statement that the two spent only “limited time” together.

However, the report that Andrew hosted Epstein at his daughter’s 18th birthday party suggests they were more than just acquaintances.

Sources told The Sun that Epstein’s presence at Beatrice’s birthday party shows “how close he and prince Andrew really were.”

One source added to The Sun: “It goes to show how Epstein worked his way into the very heart of the British establishment — rubbing shoulders with royalty at a palace.”

Previous reports said that Andrew invited Epstein and Maxwell to visit the queen’s Balmoral estate in 1999, when his mother was in residence, and to attend his 40th birthday party at Windsor Castle when the queen and nephew Prince William also were there.

In addition to reportedly bringing Epstein into the royal sphere, court documents show that Andrew vacationed with Epstein at his various homes and flew on his private plane, dubbed “the Lolita Express,” multiple times.

Andrew has acknowledged that his friendship with Epstein began in 1999 and continued through at least late 2010 — after Epstein was first investigated for sex trafficking in the mid-2000s and served 13 months in county jail for solicitation of a minor.

The Daily Mail said that Epstein’s appearance at Beatrice’s birthday party was eight days before he was arrested by the FBI during the original sex trafficking investigation.

Princess Eugenie, 16, also was at the party, but the queen was not, the Daily Mail reported. About 400 people attended, with musicians from the Royal Philharmonic brought in to perform.

After Epstein’s arrest, he was allowed to plead guilty under a controversial deal with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Miami. The deal allowed Epstein to avoid more serious federal charges and to have to serve only 13 months in jail.