Buckingham Palace has been "paralysed with indecision" over the way to handle things related to sexual abuse allegations against Prince Andrew, the Mail Online reported, quoting "senior royal insiders".
The duke behaved with "impunity" as a member of the royal family because everybody at the palace was "too scared" to stand up to him, the insiders said, according to the paper.
"The duke made clear that the only person he answered to was the Queen...He wouldn't take advice from anyone. [He] acted with total impunity and staff were just too scared to stand up to him as a member of the Royal Family. Her Majesty almost always backed him and he fully exploited that," a former Buckingham Palace staff member reportedly said.
Earlier, the Sun reported that there were "four to six witnesses" willing to testify in court and prove that the duke had met with Virginia Roberts Guiffre, who accuses him of rape. According to Guiffre, Prince Andrew sexually abused her three times in 2001 when she was 17 and under the control of the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. She also claims that they had danced together in a London club and the duke was "sweating profusely".
Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied all the allegations, saying he has never met Guiffre. Apart from this, he revealed during an interview with the BBC in 2019 he had a medical condition that made him unable to sweat. His legal team, however, has failed to prove this very claim.
The case against the duke is a civil one and he cannot be jailed. However, if he is found guilty of "battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress", he may face millions of pounds in damages to be paid to his accuser.