Prince Andrew's Legal Situation Just Took A Serious Turn

Maybe it's time for Prince Andrew to start sweating. As reported by the BBC, in August 2021, the Duke of York was named as a defendant in a civil case filed by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In the case documents, Giuffre accuses Prince Andrew, who was close friends with Epstein, of sexually assaulting her while knowing she was underage. "In this country no person, whether president or prince, is above the law, and no person, no matter how powerless or vulnerable, can be deprived of the law's protection," Giuffre's case documents read, per the BBC.

"Twenty years ago Prince Andrew's wealth, power, position, and connections enabled him to abuse a frightened, vulnerable child with no one there to protect her. It is long past the time for him to be held to account," the documents further added. Since 2019, Prince Andrew has publicly denied the allegations made by Giuffre (via BBC).

The disgraced duke, who stepped down from royal duties following his denials of wrongdoing, per The New York Times, has been receiving financial help for his legal woes from his mother, Queen Elizabeth. In October 2021, The Telegraph reported that Her Majesty was funding his legal battles to the tune of millions. If the case settles out of court, Queen Elizabeth may reportedly have to spend nearly $7 million for Prince Andrew (via Insider). While Andrew has attempted to have Giuffre's case thrown out, though bad news now awaits the Duke of York.

On January 12, 2022, ITV royal news editor Chris Ship revealed on Twitter, "Breaking news from New York: Prince Andrew WILL face a civil sex case trial." He added that "U.S. Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed a motion by Prince Andrew's legal team to have the lawsuit thrown out in a legal technicality. It now moves to the next stage."

Andrew previously attempted to dismiss the case, "saying he was covered by the settlement his accuser Virginia Giuffre signed with Jeffrey Epstein in 2009," as originally reported by CNN but stated by Ship (via Twitter). Now, the "lawsuit moves to next stage: usually deposition. The alternatives for Prince Andrew are to settle or default." Andrew's legal team, however, "has one more attempt to dismiss the lawsuit: they will argue that the federal court cannot proceed with this case because neither the Prince nor @VRSVirginia currently live in the USA," (via Twitter). Giuffre may not want to settle as it doesn't "advance the message" of holding abusers accountable, according to insiders privy to the case, per Insider.