Prince Andrew is “finished” and should live in “ignominy”, the British press said on Wednesday, assuring that the son of Elizabeth II will pay up to 16 million dollars to avoid a trial for sexual assault of a minor in the United States.
Lawyers for the American woman who had sued him, Virginia Giuffre, announced Tuesday that the two sides had reached a confidential financial settlement that allows Andres, 61, to escape the embarrassment of prosecution.
Giuffre, 38, is one of the victims of American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, convicted of pederasty by a Florida court and who committed suicide in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting a new trial for trafficking and child abuse.
The friendship of Andrés, 61, with this financier, which he defended in a highly controversial interview with the BBC in November 2019, caused a scandal that had already forced him to withdraw from public life.
But last August, Giuffre accused him of having sexually abused her in London, New York and the Virgin Islands, when she was 17 years old, through his friend.
The queen’s son has always denied these accusations, said he would defend himself and in early January it was announced that he would “voluntarily” give an affidavit in March in London before the American’s lawyers.
Perhaps that is why the British tabloid press, always unforgiving of the British royal family, was furious after the announcement of the out-of-court settlement.
“A man truly determined to clear his name of such heinous accusations would have fought tooth and nail … and then, if he won, would have tried to rebuild his life,” read an editorial in The Sun.
“Andrés is finished”, he affirmed, considering that “he must withdraw completely from public life and live his retirement in ignominy”.
For British lawyer Mark Stephens, a specialist in reputation issues at the London cabinet Howard Kennedy LLP, “most people will look at the payment of damages to someone that Prince Andrew says he has never met” with surprise.
The queen’s son “has preserved to a certain extent the dignity of the royal family (…) but I think he will never return” to public life, he tells the AFP.
Up to $16.3 million
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, only that the Duke of York will make “a substantial donation to Virginia Giuffre’s organization,” created last year to help victims of sex trafficking.
the tabloid newspaper DailyMirror It stated that the prince will shell out 12 million pounds ($16.3 million or 14.3 million euros): 2 million pounds for the charity and 10 million pounds for Giuffre.
But according to other newspapers the amount would be lower: Guardian estimated it at more than 7 million pounds, not including the “millionaire” lawyers’ fees, and the Daily Mail he spoke of a “10 million pound humiliation”.
contacted by the AFPa spokeswoman for Andres declined to comment.
All this raises the question of who and how will bear the bill.
According to the press, Andrés could have sold his luxurious Swiss chalet for about 18 million pounds (24 million dollars, 21 million euros). But he would still have to pay a significant debt for this acquisition, made in 2014.
the conservative newspaper Daily Telegraph it ensured that Isabel II would contribute to pay an undetermined part of her own pocket.
The queen and her eldest son and heir to the throne, Carlos, 73, would thus like to close a particularly embarrassing scandal for the British royal family in the year that Elizabeth II celebrates her Platinum Jubilee -70 years of reign- in a campaign intended to rekindle the love of the British for the monarchy.
To protect the institution, Andrés had been deprived in January of his honors and military titles and can no longer use his title of Royal Highness. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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