Prince Andrew insisted Virginia Giuffre stay quiet in order to protect the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee from further scandal, it was claimed.
The revelations come from Virginia’s memoir which she finished before she died by suicide in April this year, aged 41. The tell-all book, Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, is due to be released on Tuesday, October 21.
It revisits the sexual assault allegations she made against the prince, which he denies, and scrutinises his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew’s 2019 Newsnight appearance was widely condemned after he expressed no remorse for his friendship with Epstein and failed to show empathy for the paedophile billionaire’s victims. He claimed no memory of meeting Virginia and insisted he couldn’t have been with her in March 2001, as he was at a Pizza Express in Woking that evening.
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As the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee approached in 2022, public pressure and the civil case against Andrew mounted. Nine days after the Queen marked 70 years on the throne, the case was resolved. Virginia revealed in her book that she agreed to a one-year silence.
Virginia said: ‘I agreed to a one-year gag order, which seemed important to the prince because it ensured that his mother’s platinum jubilee would not be tarnished any more than it already had been.’
In January of that year, a US judge ruled the case could proceed. In response, the Queen stripped Andrew of his honorary military titles, and he stopped using ‘His Royal Highness.’
Court documents showed Andrew and Virginia reached a ‘settlement in principle’. Virginia said in her autobiography that she received more than the widely reported $12 million, plus a further $2 million he donated to her charity which supports victims’ rights.
Andrew remained absent from the Jubilee weekend events, officially citing a Covid diagnosis the day before the national thanksgiving service.
In her memoir, Giuffre writes that Andrew ‘stonewalled’ her legal team for months, but settlement talks gained momentum once his deposition was scheduled for March 2022.
Throughout her autobiography, Virginia reveals disturbing details of allegedly being forced to have sex with the Duke of York three times, including when she was just 17 years old after being trafficked by Epstein. She alleged Prince Andrew thought having sex with her was his ‘birthright’.
Although Andrew retains the title of prince and resides at Royal Lodge, a property within the Crown Estate, he announced on Friday that he would stop using his titles and honours, including the Duke of York, stating that the ongoing allegations were a distraction from the work of the King and the Royal Family.
In a statement, Andrew said: ‘I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life,’ he said.
‘With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.’
Considering his future after the decision, Andrew’s biographer Nigel Cawthorne told the Express: ‘He knows he isn’t wanted here. Even his own family no longer wants to be seen with him. I think the only choice he has left is self-imposed exile.’
‘His one option left is to find a friendly country where he can live out the rest of his days in comparative peace and safety.
‘But I think there would be public uproar if they were to even try to remain in their current home Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.’
Virginia’s family said yesterday his decision was ‘vindication’. In a statement, they added: ‘We, the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, believe that Prince Andrew’s decision to give up his titles is vindication for our sister and survivors everywhere.
‘This decisive action is a powerful step forward in our fight to bring Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s child sex-trafficking network to justice.’
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