Prince Andrew thought he could return to public life says expert

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The Duke of York is likely to face a civil trial in the US later this year after a judge dismissed his lawyers’ arguments that he should not face down his sexual assault accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Ms Giuffre claims that Andrew sexually assaulted her in 2007 when she was 17, something which he vehemently denies. Ms Giuffre is an alleged sex-trafficking victim of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, whom Andrew shared a friendship with.

The American claims that she met and was sexually assaulted by Andrew on three separate occasions ‒ in London, in New York and on Little St James Island.

She has produced a photograph which appears to depict her and the Duke with a hand around her waist and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in the background, which she claims was taken in Maxwell’s London house.

Andrew, however, maintains that he has no memory of ever meeting her.

His lawyers attempted to throw the case away after arguing that Ms Giuffre’s allegations were vague, also referring to a settlement she reached with Epstein in 2009 that barred her from suing any other “potential defendants”.

Judge Lewis A Kaplan, however, dismissed the arguments and said they had been “of no assistance”.

Much has been said of how the Palace and Andrew’s team have reacted to events.

Russel Myers, the Daily Mirror’s royal editor who also regularly appears on the podcast ‘Pod Save the Queen’, spoke during a mid-December episode about what he described as “infighting” taking place in Andrew’s camp.

It was around the time that Andrew had ordered his US legal team to “cancel Christmas” in order to prepare for a key court date in his sexual assault case.

Mr Myers said: “There are stories still coming out.

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“I’ve revealed a couple of stories inside his camp over the last week talking about how there’s quite a stressful situation that’s emerged.

“There’s talk of infighting within the camp, obviously he was forced to bring in some very big expensive hotshot lawyers from the US in order to deal with this civil case that’s been launched by his sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre.

“And it’s really reaching a head now.”

He later noted that the Palace would by “quaking in its boots” over the prospect of a trial.

The Palace has in recent weeks distanced itself from Andrew after he was stripped of his royal patronages and military titles, the former being handed back to the Queen who will dish them out between working royals.

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In a statement, it said: “With the Queen’s approval and agreement, the Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to the Queen.

“The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”

Talking about what was then an imminent decision about Andrew potentially facing a trial, Mr Myers said: “We are going to see whether we’re going to have a very explosive trial that the Palace will be absolutely quaking in their boots over.

“Not only is it the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, but also how many more lurid accusations can Andrew take on to his character?

“He already thought he was going to have a return to duties, but that is looking very far away as it stands at the moment.”

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations will take place in June, marking 70 years of her reign which officially passes on February 6.

Meanwhile, Ms Giuffre said she was “pleased” that Andrew’s attempts to dismiss the case had been denied and “that evidence will now be taken concerning her claims against him”.

David Boies, her lawyer, in a statement said: “She looks forward to a judicial determination of the merits of those claims.”

Responding to Andrew’s lawyers’ arguments about Ms Giuffre and Epstein’s settlement — that the Duke was a “potential defendant” — Ms Giuffre’s lawyers said only the parties of the settlement agreement could benefit from it, not a “third party”.

Judge Kaplan, in his decision, dismissed Andrew’s contention that the case against him was “legally insufficient” and could not go on to be heard at a future trial.

He said his ruling did not consider the “defendant’s efforts to cast doubt on the truth of Ms Giuffre’s allegations, even though his efforts would be permissible at trial”.

He added: “In a similar vein and for similar reasons, it is not open to the court now to decide, as a matter of fact, just what the parties to the release in the 2009 settlement agreement signed by Ms Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein actually meant.”

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