Any hope the Queen had that her second son’s court scrap over sexual abuse allegations would fade have been dashed, after an extraordinary string of events involving Prince Andrew unfolded last week.
No sooner had his longtime friend Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, been found guilty of sex trafficking young girls, Andrew was asked to face his own accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre in a pre-trial hearing via video link in New York.
“Regardless of whether Andrew is forced to face a civil court or not, the damage to his reputation simply by association with Ghislaine and Jeffrey Epstein has been done,” says a palace insider.
The Queen may be asked to testify if the case goes to trial.
(Getty)“The Queen has now accepted there is no coming back from this for Andrew, and discussions are being held over what his future within the family looks like.
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“Nothing is off the table, including stripping him of his dukedom and his military affiliations.”
The death knell for Andrew, 61, sounded when his 95-year-old mother was personally dragged into Maxwell’s case when the court was shown a photo of Ghislaine and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in his New York jail cell in 2019, posing at the Queen’s cabin on her Balmoral estate.
“The Queen has stood by Andrew and even paid for his defence but that was a step too far,” says a source.
“She can’t believe he would have been so stupid to associate with these awful people, and worse – bring them into her inner world.”
The Queen is allegedly now “considering” stripping Andrew of his Duke of York title – which was previously held by her beloved father King George VI, before he was forced onto the throne when his older brother King Edward VIII abdicated.
“The Queen gave Andrew the York dukedom because, quite simply, he was her favourite son and she adored her dad,” says a source.
“It was given poignantly, and Andrew has now besmirched it for ever. The Queen is devastated it has come to this.”
Meanwhile, defence force insiders speaking anonymously to the British press claim Andrew is being encouraged to resign from his nine military roles, adding that only the Queen can fire him.
If Andrew’s own New York civil case against Virginia – who accuses the prince of emotional distress and battery after allegedly sleeping with him three times in 2001 when she was just 17, at Epstein’s instruction – there is even talk his own family might be asked to testify.
“Nothing is off the table. Prince Charles, Andrew’s ex-wife [Sarah, Duchess of York] and even his niece-in-law the Duchess of Sussex, who is an American residing there so is under subpoena jurisdiction, may be called,” says a source.
“The Queen is sure there will be calls from America for her to take the stand, but she’s grateful she’ll be able to invoke sovereign immunity if it ever came to that. Having other family members being deposed would be bad enough.”
Prince Andrew has been accused sleeping with Virginia Roberts Giuffre three times in 2001 when she was just 17, at Epstein’s instruction. He has denied the claims.
(Getty)Andrew was last week said to be “extremely stressed” over his future, especially after Maxwell was found guilty.
“There are a lot of people worried Ghislaine will name and shame others involved in her murky world in a bid to cut her own sentence,” adds the source. “Andrew may be one of those people.”
Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s claims of sexual abuse.
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