Prince Andrew’s “team” tried to hire “internet trolls to hassle” his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre, she has claimed in her posthumous memoirs.
Ms Giuffre’s allegations, which appear in the harrowing account of her life, come as the Metropolitan Police said it is “actively” looking into claims Andrew passed her date of birth and social security number to his bodyguard in a bid to dig up dirt for a smear campaign.
Pressure is growing on the royal family to go further by backing a move to formally strip Andrew of his dukedom through parliamentary legislation, after he relinquished use of his Duke of York title on Friday.
Ms Giuffre, in her book Nobody’s Girl which is being published on Tuesday, described how she dressed in outfits that reminded her of her idols Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera to first meet Andrew when she was 17.
She was pictured in the “pink V-necked, sleeveless mini T-shirt and a sparkly, multicolored pair of jeans embroidered with a pattern of interlocking horses” in the famous photo showing the then-duke with his arm around her waist at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London flat in March 2001.
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 paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew paid millions to Ms Giuffre to settle a civil sexual assault case, despite claiming never to have met her.
Ms Giuffre also described how he hid behind “the well-guarded gates” of Balmoral Castle, making it difficult for her lawyers to serve him with papers.
She wrote of her 2022 legal settlement with Andrew: “After casting doubt on my credibility for so long – Prince Andrew’s team had even gone so far as to try to hire internet trolls to hassle me — the Duke of York owed me a meaningful apology as well.”
She added: “We would never get a confession, of course. That’s what settlements are designed to avoid. But we were trying for the next best thing: a general acknowledgment of what I’d been through.”
Ms Giuffre described how she took part in two days of mediation, and her lawyer read the duke’s agreed settlement statement at 2.30am Florida time “through tears, both hers and mine”.
Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, wrote an email to her co-writer Amy Wallace at the start of that month shortly after being involved in a car crash that said it was her “heartfelt wish that this work be published, regardless of my circumstances at the time”, and that it was still to be released in the event of her death.
“The content of this book is crucial, as it aims to shed light on the systemic failures that allow the trafficking of vulnerable individuals across borders,” she said in the email.
Ms Giuffre added: “In the event of my passing, I would like to ensure that Nobody’s Girl is still released. I believe it has the potential to impact many lives and foster necessary discussions about these grave injustices.”
Attention is intensifying on the Epstein scandal which led to Andrew’s downfall, despite hopes by the King that his disgraced younger brother’s banishment would draw a line under the long-running controversy.
Describing the challenges of serving Andrew with legal papers, Ms Giuffre wrote: “Initially, the prince made it difficult for my lawyers to serve him with papers, fleeing to Queen Elizabeth’s Balmoral Castle in Scotland and hiding behind its well-guarded gates.”
The book also told how Andrew insisted Ms Giuffre sign a one-year gag order at the time of the settlement to prevent tarnishing the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Ms Giuffre said Andrew’s disastrous Newsnight 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.
The Mail On Sunday reported that Andrew embarked on a bid to smear Ms Giuffre.
He is said to have emailed the late Queen’s then-deputy press secretary Ed Perkins and told him of his request to his protection officer, and also suggested Ms Giuffre had a criminal record.
The prince’s alleged attempt, on which the police officer is not said to have acted, came in 2011, hours before the newspaper first published the photograph of Andrew with Ms Giuffre.
The newspaper said it obtained the email from disclosures held by the US congress.
