Queen Elizabeth II has “put her faith in” Prince Andrew despite the Jeffrey Epstein-related sexual abuse lawsuit against him in New York.
The Duke of York is being sued by Virginia Giuffre who says she was forced to have sex with him in London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands when she was 17. Prince Andrew has denied all the allegations.
Andrew’s attempts to get the case thrown out have seen his lawyers attack a New York law, the Child Victims Act, which gave thousands of sex abuse victims hope as it gave them the right to sue their abusers years later.
However, he has told his mother, the queen, he is innocent and she is standing by him, according to royal author Katie Nicholl.
In a segment due to air on Wednesday, the royal correspondent, who wrote Harry: Life, Loss, and Love, told The Royal Beat: “My understanding is she has had full and frank discussions with Andrew.
“He has assured her that he is innocent, and she has put her faith in him. And I think the position she finds herself in is twofold. There’s a dichotomy here.
“She’s the monarch and she’s had to make difficult decisions as a Monarch—difficult decisions in stripping her son of his duties and patronages and basically removing him from royal life and putting him into early retirement—and given their closeness that must have been hard.
“But of course the other role she fulfills is the role of mother, and we are seeing her standing by Andrew whether that’s riding out with him at Windsor or just simply having him there.
“Who did he run to when the lawyers were trying to deliver him the papers? His mother.”
Giuffre’s lawyers said in a court filing: “During each of the aforementioned incidents, [Giuffre] was compelled by express or implied threats by Epstein, Maxwell, and/or Prince Andrew to engage in sexual acts with Prince Andrew, and feared death or physical injury to herself or another and other repercussions for disobeying [late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey] Epstein, [his longtime associate Ghislaine] Maxwell, and Prince Andrew due to their powerful connections, wealth, and authority.”
A recent filing by Andrew’s team read: “Giuffre’s refusal to include anything but the most conclusory allegations is puzzling given her pattern of disclosing to the media the purported details of the same allegations included in the Complaint.
“Perhaps it is Giuffre’s tendency to change her story that prompted her to keep the allegations of the Complaint vague, so as not to commit to any specific account.
“Whatever the motivating factor, Giuffre’s Complaint is deficient and fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.”
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