Prince Andrew, at Royal Lodge in Windsor on April 11, 2021 (POOL/Steve Parsons)
If he avoids a trial thanks to the agreement obtained with Virginia Giuffre, the American who accuses him of having sexually assaulted her in 2001, Prince Andrew is not out of the woods, with a considerable sum to pay and a reputation in tatters.
The financial arrangement announced on Tuesday remains confidential but several British newspapers claim that the third child of Elizabeth II will have to pay 12 million pounds (more than 14 million euros) to the former victim of American multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein as well as to his association.
The court document merely states that the Duke of York ‘intends to make a significant donation to Virginia Giuffre’s organisation’, dubbed ‘Speak Out, Act, Reclaim’, which supports victims of sex trafficking .
According to the tabloid The Daily Mirror, the 61-year-old prince would pay two million pounds to this association and 10 million to Mrs. Giuffre personally, without specifying whether or not this sum includes the very high lawyers’ fees in these cases.
A heavy sum that could force Elizabeth II to put her hand in the wallet to help the one who has often been described as her favorite son, according to the Telegraph.
By reaching an agreement, as the vast majority of such cases in the United States conclude, Andrew saved himself the humiliation of a civil lawsuit involving the testimony of one of his former advisers as well as of a woman claiming to have seen him with Mrs Giuffre in a London nightclub some twenty years ago.
– “Huge payment” –
But this agreement will represent for him “a huge payment” told AFP Mark Stephens, lawyer specialist in reputation at the law firm Howard Kennedy, stressing that the prince will have to “confirm that this comes from his own resources” and not public money.
Prince Andrew, on his arrival at a church service in Hillington in the east of England on January 19, 2020 (AFP / Lindsey Parnaby)
Andrew’s sale of a luxury Swiss chalet he acquired in 2014 with his ex-wife, Sarah, for £13million could help settle the bill.
With the conclusion of this agreement, the British royal family has been able to breathe a sigh of relief, hoping now to focus public and media attention on the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II, which celebrates 70 years of reign.
But that’s counting without the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, whose foundation is the subject of a police investigation announced on Wednesday. Investigators are investigating whether donations were rewarded with honorary titles and used to support a Saudi businessman’s naturalization application.
“The Prince of Wales had no knowledge of the alleged offer of honors or British citizenship on the basis of a donation to his charities,” his services reiterated.
– Low profile –
Prince Andrew is probably doomed to keep a low profile for the rest of his life.
“His reputation will never recover,” Penny Junor, an expert on the royal family, told AFP. Even if he has always disputed the facts with which he is accused and that the agreement is not synonymous with a confession, “many people think that he is guilty”, observed Ms. Junor.
“I just think it’s horrible that everything has been swept under the rug,” reacted Yasmine Ollive, 34, account manager, interviewed by AFP in London.
Near Buckingham Palace, Collin Gilbert, 53, a tourist from Colorado, said that “from the American point of view, I think we have long realized that the monarchy has skeletons in the closet”.
To protect the image of the Royal Family, Andrew was stripped of any official role last month and can no longer use his title of Royal Highness.
He was also deprived of his military titles, an additional humiliation.
Prince Andrew, in Bruges, Belgium for the 75th anniversary of the city’s liberation, September 7, 2019 (AFP / JOHN THYS)
He had already had no public activity since a calamitous television interview in 2019 during which he had categorically denied the accusations against him, without the slightest empathy for the victims and without regret for his links with Jeffrey Epstein.
An MP for York (north of England), Rachael Maskell, pleaded for Andrew to also lose his title of Duke of York, believing that he had “deeply hurt and embarrassed” the inhabitants of the city.