Katherine Keating, the daughter of former Australian prime minister Paul Keating, has spoken publicly for the first time about her inadvertent entanglement in the Jeffrey Epstein affair — a scandal that continues to reverberate through the British royal family.
Keating’s name first surfaced in 2019 when footage emerged of Prince Andrew waving her goodbye from Epstein’s New York townhouse. Now, more than a decade later, Keating has clarified her connection.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, she described attending a dinner at Epstein’s home at Prince Andrew’s invitation, calling it “a large social event” attended by members of New York’s media and cultural elite, including Barbara Walters, Charlie Rose and Katie Couric.
“At the time, I had only lived in New York about ten weeks and was happy to accept the odd social invitation,” she said. How Katherine became acquainted with Prince Andrew is unknown.
There has never been any suggestion that Keating had knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities, nor in any of the behaviour alleged against Prince Andrew.
Her role remains entirely incidental— an unfortunate intersection of timing and proximity that happened to occur within one of the most infamous social circles of the 21st century.
Newly unearthed correspondence between Epstein and Prince Andrew has reignited public attention. In February 2011, just two months after Keating was pictured leaving Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, the financier emailed the Prince requesting that he invite her to another dinner, noting filmmaker Woody Allen among the guests.
Andrew replied that he was “on the Keating case.”
The emails, part of the so-called “Epstein files” now being examined by US Congress, have once again tied Keating’s name to headlines she never sought.
Meanwhile, Prince Andrew’s own future within the royal fold grows increasingly uncertain.
Reports in The Telegraph suggest he and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson may soon be asked to vacate their 30-bedroom Royal Lodge residence, as King Charles and Prince William move to distance the monarchy from further scandal.
For Keating, speaking now feels less like an attempt at repair than an act of reclamation.
Her statement delineates the fine line between coincidence and complicity, and reminds us how reputations can be reshaped, even imperceptibly, by mere proximity to power.
