Of course, Prince Andrew continues to insist he did absolutely nothing wrong. He’s only forking over big piles of cash because the rumors have enough basis that he can’t really prove his innocence. On Tuesday, February 15, a settlement was reached with Virginia Giuffre. The 61-year-old Prince had been accused of raping Giuffre “when she was just 17.”
Andrew buys his way out
He will remain Prince Andrew and still be called the Duke of York. Buckingham Palace sources are confirming “the duke’s settlement with Virginia Giuffre has not altered the situation.” He also gets to keep “his service rank of Vice Admiral and his role as Counsellor of State.” The gossip says he was hauled in front of the Queen and ordered to make the scandal go away.
Rumors speculate that she even grudgingly kicked in funding to make it happen. Various U.K. media outlets are reporting “the Duke was ordered by the Queen and Prince Charles to make a deal.” According to the Mirror, he was under “intense pressure from the very top.” Agreement helps “avoid the risk of any courtroom drama overshadowing the Queen’s 70th Jubilee celebrations this year.”
Over and above the cash settlement, “Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.” He’s being surprisingly nice about it.
Confidentiality agreements prevent anyone from saying a single word about the settlement amount but the general consensus in the British press is that the agreed on charity donation came in around £10-£12 million GBP or $13.6 – $16.3 million U.S. dollars.
“Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks.” The deciding factor on wrapping the case up seems to be the scheduled deposition. In a few weeks he was due to be interrogated under oath by Ms. Giuffre’s legal team.
He can’t deny he was at all the places she said things happened, Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, his “pedophile paradise” in the Virgin Islands and Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home. Ghislaine even confirmed the infamous photo with him around his accusers waist with Maxwell in the background. “It looks real. I think it is,” she agreed.
All Epstein’s fault
Andrew issued a formal statement through his lawyers which frankly states that it was widely “known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years.” While he swears up and down he never laid a finger on a single one of them, the Prince “regrets his association with Epstein and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others.”
He may be a Prince and a Duke but he “was stripped of his military titles and the ‘His Royal Highness’ title, as well as his royal charities.”
He was also “ordered to ‘not to undertake any public duties.‘” He’s still in line for the throne if those ahead of him can’t do the job. Royal experts declare that Andrew might as well become a hermit.
They say it seems “impossible” that the Prince could “ever return to royal duties” because he will “forever be tainted” by the scandal.
While the Queen may let Andrew keep his Dukedom, his vassals aren’t happy about it. The Parliament Minister for York, Rachael Maskell, is furious. She wants him to “renounce his ducal title and give up his association with the city out of respect.” She refuses to call him “Duke.”
She “personally refers to the royal plainly by his first name.” Not only that, “He’s got an ambassadorial role which comes with that title and York, needless to say, is a global city. Eight million people visit it every year in normal times, and so it’s really important that the values of our city are what people relate to York – that great social history, as well as work we’re doing at this very time around the safety of women and girls, and being able to take that conversation forward in the right place.“