Prince Andrew ‘could be stripped of royal title’ if he loses lawsuit

Royal courtiers are reportedly considering sending Prince Andrew into “internal exile” as a secret Jeffrey Epstein document is set to be released.

A secret 2009 settlement agreement between the late paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, which bears directly on Ms Giuffre’s civil lawsuit accusing Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, will be unsealed and made public within days.

It comes amid reports that royal courtiers have discussed plans to ask the Duke of York to stop using his title if he loses the lawsuit brought by Ms Giuffre.

The Sunday Times reports that ideas being debated in the royal household include sending Prince Andrew into a form of “internal exile” and forcing him to give up his remaining links to charities.

One source told The Sunday Times: “If he loses the case, the question is what do you do with him? You can’t make him resign like you would a normal person but he would be asked to put his dukedom into abeyance.”

Prince Andrew speaks outside the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor after the death of Prince Philip. Picture: AFP

High-powered lawyers for Prince Andrew, 61, and Ms Giuffre, 38, will go head-to-head at a video conference hearing in New York on Tuesday to decide the future of her lawsuit.

In a joint order, US District Judges Lewis Kaplan and Loretta Preska in Manhattan ordered the 2009 agreement between Epstein and his victim Ms Giuffre be released on or about January 3, 2022, finding no reason to keep it under seal.

Judge Kaplan oversees Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit accusing Prince Andrew of abusing her at two of Epstein’s homes and forcing her to have sex more than two decades ago when she was under 18 at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts Giuffre at Ghislaine Maxwell's townhouse in London on March 13, 2001. Picture: Florida Southern District Court/Supplied

Prince Andrew has vehemently and consistently denied Ms Giuffre’s claims, saying he never had sex with her.

Judge Preska oversees Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit accusing Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz of defaming her when he denied her claim that he was among the men Epstein compelled her to have sex with.

The royal household is reportedly debating what to do if Prince Andrew loses the lawsuit brought by Virginia Roberts Guiffre. Picture: AFP

Prince Andrew’s legal team has insisted the 2009 settlement, which will be made public within days, shields him and others “from any and all liability” that stem from Ms Giuffre’s accusations, the NY Post reports.

The royal spoke out about the sexual abuse allegations in a 2019 television interview with BBC Newsnight.

“It didn’t happen. I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened. I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever,” he said.

Virginia Giuffre during her BBC Panorama interview about Prince Andrew. Picture: BBC

Lawyers for the Queen’s second son attempted to dismiss Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit on the grounds that she lives in Australia, not in the US, as the suit suggests.

They also claimed questioning Ms Giuffre under oath would show she is “domiciled” in Australia instead of Colorado.

But Judge Kaplan denied their bid.

Epstein, a registered sex offender, killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was found guilty by a US jury last week of helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.

Ms Giuffre was not listed as a victim in the indictment against Maxwell and did not testify at her trial.

Evidence that Maxwell and Epstein flew with Ms Giuffre across the country and that they recruited her for abuse was allowed into the trial as potential corroboration of a sex-trafficking conspiracy. Maxwell was found guilty of five of six counts she was facing in the sex-trafficking trial. She faces up to 65 years in prison.