Prince Andrew, 62, paid his accuser Virginia Giuffre a monetary settlement earlier this week. The move effectively ends the Duke of York’s court case in the United States, where Ms Giuffre was suing him after alleging he sexually assaulted her when she was 17 and was trafficked by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Throughout the case, Andrew vehemently denied the allegations and claimed that he had no recollection of ever meeting Ms Giuffre.
On Tuesday, New York judge Lewis Kaplan signed “Stipulation of Dismissal” court documents, effectively ending the case.
According to the documents, both parties were responsible for their own costs and legal fees.
The settlement, announced in February, made no admissions of guilt, but stated that Andrew recognised Ms Giuffre as a victim of abuse and subjected to “unfair public attacks.”
The exact amount paid by the Queen’s son to Ms Giuffre and her charity has not been disclosed, but it is thought to be in the region of £12 million.
There has been some speculation as to whether the Queen contributed any funds to the settlement.
Last month, royal expert Zoe Forsey claimed that Her Majesty’s initial response to Andrew was effectively, “You deal with this.”
The Daily Mirror’s online features editor spoke with the paper’s royal editor Russell Myers on their regular royal podcast ‘Pod Save The Queen’ to summarise the situation.
Ms Forsey claimed in the episode aired the day after the settlement announcement that Andrew was “under pressure” from other senior members of the Royal Family.
“The initial reports were that the Queen had very much said, ‘You deal with this,'” she added.
“‘I’ve got nothing to do with it’ – in terms of bank balances and money pots.”
“However, there are now reports that she may be contributing something to this terrifyingly large figure.”
The Queen was to contribute money to the settlement from her private Duchy of Lancaster estate, according to the Daily Telegraph last month.
According to the BBC, taxpayer money has not been used to fund the settlement.
According to the broadcaster, in response to a Freedom of Information request, the Treasury stated that “no public money has been used to pay legal or settlement fees.”
Andrew agreed to make a donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in the settlement announcement last month.
The American is the founder of the non-profit organisation Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (SOAR), which assists victims of abuse.
The mission of the charity is to assist survivors of sex trafficking and to raise awareness in order to put an end to sex trafficking.
“Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights,” according to a statement about Ms Giuffre and Andrew’s settlement.
“Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms Giuffre’s character, and he recognises that she has suffered as a long-standing victim of abuse as well as as a result of unfair public attacks.”
