Prince Andrew is "broken" after being forced to cough up a megabucks out-of-court settlement to his sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre, reported the Mirror.
“He is down, he is broken,” the outlet cites a source who served with the disgraced royal during the Falklands War as saying.
Furthermore, the reported move to allow the Queen’s second son to retain his rank as Vice Admiral is an attempt to “cheer up” the embattled 62-year old. Prince Andrew was in the Navy for 22 years, and he engaged in active service in the Falklands War as a helicopter pilot.
“If he wants to dress up once in a while in a naval uniform, then let him… He served in the Royal Navy in the Falklands War and this was bestowed upon him by the Queen. It’s effectively the same as an honorary degree,” it was added.
Despite having been stripped of his royal titles, military affiliations and royal patronages amid the sexual abuse lawsuit, Prince Andrew is still ninth in the line of succession to the throne (the first is Prince Charles), and it is understood that he is to retain his title Duke of York and military rank of vice admiral after settling his US sexual abuse civil lawsuit.
The source went on to insist that he recalled the royal being “not a bad person”, despite “a few entitlement issues”.
According to the individual quoted by the publication, the royal, who has not been convicted of anything, has already paid “quite a heavy price” for the scandal.
“His reputation is in tatters, his public life is over. He is a walking embarrassment.”
Virginia Giuffre (nee Roberts) had claimed she was trafficked out by the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the prince on three occasions when she was 17 and a minor by US law.
Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell. This photo was included in an affidavit in which Giuffre alleged that she was directed to have sex with Andrew
© Photo : Florida Southern District Court
The first time was purportedly at the London townhouse of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former lover and associate, who was herself convicted in a New York courtroom on 29 December of recruiting and grooming underage girls for sexual encounters with the disgraced financier between 1994 and 2004.
This photo shows the Manhattan residence of Jeffrey Epstein, Monday July 8, 2019, in New York
© AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
The second time, in early 2001, was supposedly at Epstein's New York mansion, and the third time was on the tycoon's private island in the Caribbean. Epstein, a former friend of the Duke of York, was convicted of sex offences in 2008 and died in a Manhattan prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Giuffre had been seeking unspecified damages.
Prince Andrew had denied all allegations against him, insisting earlier he would never settle and wanted a jury trial. However, after in an unexpected twist in the scandal earlier in the month, the royal agreed to make a “substantial donation” to a charity supporting victims’ rights, and accepted that Giuffre “suffered as an established victim of abuse”. At the same time, he made no admission of liability.
In the document, cited by UK media outlets, he also reportedly regretted his association with Jeffrey Epstein, stating that he would demonstrate this “by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims”.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court
© AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
Giuffre, 38, said to be “very, very pleased” with the settlement, is to dismiss the case upon receiving the settlement, reportedly worth up to £12million, with a non-disclosure agreement stopping her from continuing to tell her side of the story.