Prince Andrew is today facing more bombshell claims made by Virginia Giuffre in her posthumous memoir – and royal expert Jennie Bond believes the situation has reached breaking point
Prince Andrew has left King Charles in a “hideous quandary” and is now tainting the monarchy, according to a royal expert.
It comes after extracts from a posthumous memoir by sex trafficking victim Virginia Guiffre have emerged, where she claims the Duke of York acted ‘entitled’ and as if sex with her was his ‘birthright’. The Jeffrey Epstein victim tragically died aged 41 in April; however, her book is set to be released next week. In the book, she is said to detail the three occasions when she was allegedly trafficked to have sex with disgraced Andrew, which he has denied.
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She also writes that when she met Andrew, he correctly guessed her age of 17 years. The extract states: “’My daughters are just a little younger than you,’ he told me, explaining his accuracy.”
Extracts from the book come just days after he found himself in another storm after it emerged he told Epstein they were “in this together” in an email sent after he claimed to have cut contact with the paedophile. The email was sent on February 28, 2011 – the day after the well-known photograph of the duke with Virginia Giuffre was published.
There have been calls for Andrew to be stripped of his title and sources have signalled that the King wants to keep the Yorks at arm’s length after it also recently emerged that Andrew’s ex-wife Fergie had kept in contact with Epstein after publicly denouncing him in 2011.
But after the latest claims, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond says the King may be forced to act. She told the Mirror: “I think things have reached such a state now, with the latest excerpts from Virgina Giuffre’s book, that the public wants another show of punishment for Andrew.
“It seems impossible to force him out of Royal Lodge, but he could certainly be removed from the Order of the Garter. “It is a hideous quandary for the King, but Andrew’s association with Epstein – who so grievously preyed on young girls – is now tainting the monarchy and all the good work it does. Something has to be done. “Banning him from shoots etc would be another humiliation, for sure. But is it enough?”
In a Newsnight interview with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in November 2019, Andrew denied claims that he slept with Ms Giuffre, saying: “I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened. I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.”
The duke also said he has no memory of a well-known photograph of him with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist at Maxwell’s house, and has questioned whether it was his own hand in the image.
Andrew claimed in his Newsnight interview that he had a medical condition in 2001, after suffering an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War when he was shot at, which meant he did not sweat.
He said the alleged encounter with Ms Giuffre in 2001 did not happen and he spent the day with his daughter, Princess Beatrice, taking her to Pizza Express in Woking for a party.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment. The duke’s representatives have been contacted for comment.