The father of girl who claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew has apologised after claiming she met the Queen while on a trip to London with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. 
 
 Virginia Roberts' father Sky, 58, had boasted this weekend that his daughter, who said she had sex with the royal while under-age, was introduced to Her Majesty on a trip organised by Epstein. 
 
 Buckingham Palace emphatically denied that any such meeting took place. 
 
 But today Mr Roberts retracted his claim. In a statement sent to MailOnline, he said: 'I want to clear up that many years ago Virginia stated to me she was to meet the Queen's son Prince Andrew and not the Queen herself. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding.' 
 
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 Decial: The Queen has said she did not meet Virginia Roberts after her father Sky (pictured with her aged seven) said she met the monarch on the same trip she met Prince Andrew 
 
 He added that he had not demanded that Prince Andrew be prosecuted, but said that 'any person whether it is a Prince or a pauper, if anybody has sex with a minor, they should be prosecuted.' 
 
 Mr Roberts said this weekend that his daughter told him 'a few years back' that she had met Prince Andrew and the Queen after she had been flown to London by Epstein. 
 
 The claim of a meeting with the Queen was not made by Miss Roberts herself. 
 
 Responding to Mr Roberts' claim, a Palace spokesman said: ‘There is nothing to suggest that this claim is true. We have no record of such a meeting.’ 
 
 Prince Andrew vehemently denies the claims made in a new legal action by Miss Roberts that he abused her as an under-age girl at an orgy where she was being used as a ‘sex slave’. 
 
 The legal allegation states that Miss Roberts was ‘forced’ to have sex with the royal at parties in London, New York and the Caribbean. 
 
 She claims she was told to ‘give the prince whatever he demanded’ by his friend Epstein – the US paedophile who hosted the parties – and that she was converted ‘into what is commonly referred to as a sex slave’. 
 
 Sky Roberts spoke out this weekend to support his daughter, who is now 30, and said her claims should be tested in court. 
 
 Prince Andrew photographed with Virginia Roberts in 2001 
 
 Her father said: ‘I brought up my children and that includes Virginia to always tell the truth … Why would she lie?’ 
 
 Mr Roberts, who lives on a five-acre ranch in Summerfield, near Ocala, Florida, said he had never talked to his daughter about her allegedly being kept as a sex slave by Epstein and loaned out to other rich men. 
 
 But he insisted that if Prince Andrew did have sex with his daughter when she was 17 and under the legal age limit, he should be prosecuted. 
 
 ‘I don’t care if he is a prince or the guy who lives down the road … it should not have happened and they must face the consequences,’ he said. ‘Having under-age sex is against the law and he should be prosecuted.’ 
 
 Mr Roberts, who divorced from Virginia’s mother Lynn eight years ago, said he has not spoken to his daughter in three months. Miss Roberts and husband Robert left their home in Titusville, Florida, and are now in Colorado. 
 
 Her father said he never suspected she was being abused by Epstein and his friends; adding: ‘At the time we thought it was all OK. Virginia never once said anything about any sexual activity. I never asked her because I did not think that was going on. 
 
 ‘Mr Epstein seemed an upstanding kind of guy. She would go to his house in Palm Beach but always come home. When he started flying her all over the world we just thought what a life she was having … All Virginia ever said was that she was hired to give massages.’ 
 
 He said his daughter was never in trouble with police and avoided any involvement in drugs while growing up in California and Loxahatchee, Florida. 
 
 Mr Roberts also claims his daughter (right) was introduced to the Queen. Left, Prince Andrew with former friend Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 
 
 Prince Andrew was seen leaving Verbier ski resort in Switzerland today as he made his way back to the UK 
 
 Marriage: Miss Roberts pictured with her husband Robert on their wedding day in Thailand in 2002 
 
 ‘There was one occasion when she was taken to hospital with alcohol poisoning … She was about 15 years old. That was the only time she had been in trouble. Growing up she had everything she wanted. It was a good family life with her brothers Sky [now 25] and Daniel [now 35].’ 
 
 Mr Roberts, who is retired, admitted he has not read any of the allegations made by his daughter and avoided reading her account in 2011, when she waived her right to anonymity and talked about her time with Epstein. 
 
 THE PALACE'S THREE DENIALS FRIDAY: ‘This relates to long-standing and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which the Duke of York is not a party. As such we would not comment on the detail. However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.’ SATURDAY AFTERNOON: ‘A very serious allegation, of sex with a minor, was levelled at the duke in a legal document submitted to a US court. The earlier statement categorically rejected that claim; and as was indicated at the time, we do not intend to comment further.’ SATURDAY EVENING, in response to specific claims about Andrew’s alleged conduct: ‘It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.’ 
 
 He said: ‘I still don’t want to know. Virginia has never talked about it with me, as it’s not the sort of thing a father wants to hear from his daughter. I might be putting my head in the sand, but that is the way I want it … What Virginia did back then is in the past.’ 
 
 Mr Roberts said he visited her several times when she lived in Australia. She moved back to the US 18 months ago to be closer to her family. 
 
 In court documents, Miss Roberts – who is not named – says she was ‘procured for sexual activities’ for Epstein by Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite daughter of crooked tycoon Robert Maxwell. 
 
 Miss Maxwell is alleged to have facilitated the prince’s ‘abuse’ of the girl. The legal documents, lodged with a Florida court, name Miss Maxwell as a ‘madame’ and a ‘primary co-conspirator in [Epstein’s] sexual abuse and sex trafficking scheme’. She has previously branded all claims against her as ‘untrue’ and ‘obvious lies’. The court papers name Andrew, 54, as one of three men allegedly involved in abusing ‘Jane Doe #3’ when she was 17 – under-age according to Florida state law. 
 
 Epstein, a long-term friend of Andrew, was jailed for 13 months in 2008 for soliciting girls for under-age prostitution. The pair remained friends and were seen together in 2011 after Epstein’s release. 
 
 On Friday a Buckingham Palace spokesman said ‘any suggestion of impropriety with under-age minors is categorically untrue’. ||||| Image caption The duke launched his Twitter career by welcoming people to his account 
 
 The Duke of York has become the first member of the Royal Family to join Twitter. 
 
 Prince Andrew chose @TheDukeOfYork as his handle for the micro-blogging site. 
 
 But his arrival prompted mixed reactions from other tweeters, as some pointed to his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and others pretended to confuse him with a pub. 
 
 The prince served for 22 years in the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot, and until 2011 was the UK's trade envoy. 
 
 His first tweet was "Welcome to my Twitter account - AY". If the tweets are signed AY, they will have been written by Prince Andrew himself. 
 
 The sign-off led one user to ask if his account had been hacked by Ali G, Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy character, who used a similar sounding catchphrase. 
 
 Another tweeted: "Yo how's Jeffrey Epstein?", a reference to the American billionaire and friend of the duke who was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution. 
 
 The duke is a champion of free speech. For him it's about telling people what he's doing Royal spokesman 
 
 But there were well-wishers and some friendly advice among those welcoming the royal to Twitter, a site where users communicate with their followers using 140 characters or less. 
 
 Television presenter Eamonn Holmes suggested "in a caring way" that Prince Andrew's account needed "a more personal touch to be effective". 
 
 BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said after the Royal Family first went on Facebook, an extra layer of security had to be used to block some of the abuse some people wanted to post. 
 
 The duke's decision to start tweeting coincided with the launch of the Duke of York Award for Technical Education as he visited the Black Country University Technical College - a new school offering year 10 and year 12 students the opportunity to focus on science and engineering subjects in a specialist environment. 
 
 A spokesman for Prince Andrew said he had long been someone who embraced new technology. 
 
 "He was in fact the first member of the British Royal Family to tweet on the British Monarchy (account) when he visited Tech City. The logical next step was to tweet individually." 
 
 Asked about the derogatory tweets, the spokesman added: "The duke is a champion of free speech. For him it's about telling people what he's doing." 
 
 Two golf clubs and two official Royal Family accounts - @BritishMonarchy and @ClarenceHouse - are among the organisations he is already following. 
 
 Within two hours of going online, the duke's account had amassed more than 3,000 followers.
– Buckingham Palace is busy doing a little damage control, which has eyebrows at media outlets including the New York Times and the AP raised because it doesn't usually bother. At issue is Prince Andrew, his ties to American billionaire/registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and whether Queen Elizabeth's second son had sex with an underage girl named as "Jane Doe Number 3" in a lawsuit filed last week in Florida. The woman, who is being named by the Daily Mail, claims that Epstein forced her to have sex with men including the Duke of York in London, New York, and on Epstein's private Caribbean island between 1999 and 2002, beginning when she was just 17. Also named is Harvard law prof Alan Dershowitz, who yesterday "categorically and unequivocally" denied all allegations. "This relates to longstanding and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which The Duke of York is not a party," said the palace statement. "As such we would not comment on the detail. However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue." Andrew himself is cutting short a ski vacation to return and address the allegations, reports the Daily Mail, which notes that the royal may have immunity from prosecution stemming from Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution. Andrew resigned as UK trade envoy in 2011 over his ties to Epstein.