Prince Andrew has reached an amicable agreement with Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts), who accused him of sexual assault and had obtained a trial in the United States soon. With a financial payment “substantial” – the amount of which has not been made public by the American justice system, Tuesday February 15 –, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II will avoid the public exposure of a trial by jury, and perhaps the opprobrium of ‘a conviction.
Virginia Giuffre, 38, one of the main accusers of multimillionaire and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein (found hanged in his cell in August 2019), was suing the Duke of York, claiming to have been forced by Mr. Epstein and his friend, Ghislaine Maxwell ( convicted of trafficking minors), to having had sex with him three times in 2001, when she was only 17 years old. Andrew, 61, has so far always denied the allegations and even claimed “have no memory” to have met her, despite the existence of a photograph dating from 2001 showing him holding the young Virginia by the waist, in the presence of Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a joint press release, Virginia Giuffre and Prince Andrew specify that the latter “never intended to denigrate the character of Mme Giuffre, and acknowledges that she has suffered as a victim of abuse and a target of unjust public attack.” prince andrew “regret” Also “his association with Mr. Epstein” – he remained close to the wealthy New Yorker, even after his prison sentence in the early 2010s. Finally, he pledges to pay a “substantial donation” to charities (helping victims of sexual abuse and founded by Virginia Giuffre).
“The tabloids would have reveled in it”
Lawyer Lisa Bloom, who represents eight of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, reacted, saying that “Virginia did what no one else could have done: get Prince Andrew to stop his nonsense and side with the victims of sexual violence. We salute his astonishing courage”.
This amicable agreement was greeted with relief by the rest of the royal family, already shaken by the sensational departure for America of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, and who feared that a public trial, loving to tabloids, does not tarnish the platinum jubilee (70 years of reign) of the queen, in June, which must celebrate her exceptional longevity and the solidity of the British monarchy. “Going to trial could have resulted in some really, really unpleasant situations. It would have been embarrassing, humiliating, the tabloids would have reveled in it. And that would have eclipsed the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee,” writes journalist and author Penny Junor, in The Guardian.
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