Does Prince Andrew think he has spied a way back into royal favor and public life? According to reports in both the Sun on Sunday and Mail on Sunday, Andrew has consulted lawyers, hoping he can force Virginia Roberts Giuffre to retract allegations that he sexually assaulted her when she was a minor and being sexually trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew also wants to get Giuffre to apologize, apparently inspired by her dropping a lawsuit against lawyer Alan Dershowitz, admitting that she “may have made a mistake” in identifying him as one of her past abusers. However, Giuffre told The Daily Beast in November that her settling of the defamation suit against Dershowitz should not be seen as Dershowitz being “exonerated,” as he had claimed.
The Mail reports that King Charles won’t stop Andrew from pursuing the legal action—even though Andrew officially has no royal role, and Charles told him his excommunication would be permanent. The shamed Andrew has always emphatically denied Giuffre’s allegations, though paid her an out of court, reportedly multi-million dollar settlement.
“Andrew felt as if he was in a pressure-cooker, as if he was given no option but to settle,” a source told the Mail on Sunday. “But he never wanted to settle and has always insisted he was innocent. He wants to see what legal routes might be available to him. This isn’t about the money. He wants a route back to some sort of normality after a deeply trying period. I can tell you with confidence that Prince Andrew’s team is now considering legal options.”
The Mail reports that it is not yet clear on what basis Andrew and his legal team might proceed—though his decision to do so may have been influenced by Ghislaine Maxwell who—speaking in her first broadcast interview from jail for Talk TV—claims the infamous photograph taken of her, Andrew, and Giuffre is a fake, and that she has “no memory” of Andrew and Giuffre meeting.
“Her story frankly has changed multiple times,” Maxwell reportedly says of Giuffre. “It’s very hard to know really what’s true or not.” Maxwell added that the true story “has yet to unfold.”
“I have no memory of them meeting, and I don’t think that picture is real,” Maxwell said. “I don’t remember her in my home. I know that Virginia travelled with Jeffrey, and so it’s entirely possible. But the photo doesn’t appear to be real, and I don’t recall it being taken.”
The Sun quotes Maxwell saying of Giuffre: “I think her ‘memory lapses’ are disingenuous. If her memory is so poor, then how can you rely on anything she says? When you give a lot of details and make claims that last five, six or seven years, and then suddenly at the last moment decide that it was a memory lapse, I find that hard to credit.”
Andrew may be aware that Giuffre could speak out on him and Epstein further when a reported 12-month gagging clause she signed as part of the multi-million dollar court settlement expires in February. The Palace, Andrew’s office, and Giuffre’s lawyer declined to comment to the Mail.