Prince Andrew insisted that his sexual abuse accuser, Virginia Giuffre, agree to a one-year gag order to avoid undermining Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee in 2022, her memoirs have revealed.
Andrew relinquished the use of his titles and honours on Friday, including his Duke of York title, after facing mounting pressure from King Charles following the long-lasting Epstein scandal.
In her posthumous memoir released next Tuesday, Ms Giuffre exposes details of further attention on the allegations of abuse against the disgraced prince and his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
She tells how Andrew’s disastrous Newsnight interview was like an “injection of jet fuel” for her legal team, and it raised the possibility of “subpoenaing” his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and drawing them into the legal case, according to The Telegraph.
Ms Giuffre said she got “more out of” Andrew than a reported 12-million-dollar payout and two-million-dollar donation to her charity because she had “an acknowledgement that I and many other women had been victimised and a tacit pledge to never deny it again”.
The former duke paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre in 2022, despite insisting he had never met her.
His 2019 Newsnight interview, which he hoped would clear his name, backfired when he said he “did not regret” his friendship with convicted paedophile Epstein, who trafficked Ms Giuffre.
He was heavily criticised for failing to show sympathy with the sex offender’s victims.
Andrew also said he had “no recollection” of ever meeting Ms Giuffre and added he could not have had sex with her in March 2001 because he was at Pizza Express with his daughter Beatrice on the day in question.
Ms Giuffre alleged, which Andrew vehemently denies, that she was forced to have sex with the prince on three occasions, including when she was 17, after being trafficked by Epstein.
Queen Elizabeth II was celebrating her platinum jubilee in 2022 – the first British monarch to reach the milestone – as the civil case against her son gathered pace. It was settled just nine days after she reached the 70th anniversary of her accession.
Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, revealed in her book: “I agreed to a one-year gag order, which seemed important to the prince because it ensured that his mother’s platinum jubilee would not be tarnished any more than it already had been.”
In January 2022, a US judge ruled the civil case against Andrew could go ahead, and the Queen went on to strip him of his honorary military roles, with the prince also giving up his HRH style.
In February of that year, court documents showed Andrew and Ms Giuffre had reached a “settlement in principle” in the civil sex claim.
Andrew made a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”, and pledged to “demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein” by supporting the “fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims”, the legal papers revealed.
The settlement avoided a public trial, saving the monarchy from the controversy of an in-depth investigation into Ms Giuffre’s claims in a year when the Queen was preparing to take part in an extended June weekend of jubilee celebrations.
The Queen’s reported favourite son stayed behind closed doors for the jubilee and missed the church service, having announced the day before that he had Covid.
In her book, Nobody’s Girl, Ms Giuffre told how Andrew had “stonewalled” her legal team for months before settlement discussions began moving very quickly when his deposition was scheduled for March 2022.
Ms Giuffre also wrote how she was “revolted” to see “two of my abusers together” when Andrew was pictured walking with Epstein in New York in 2011 and “amazed” that a member of the royal family would be “stupid enough” to appear in public with the convicted paedophile.
The Independent has approached Buckingham Palace for comment.
