Buckingham Palace has been paralysed last night by indecision as to how it will handle the Prince Andrew crisis.
According to senior royal insiders, the duke was ‘impunious’ because he was a member the Royal Family’s Royal Family. Staff were too scared to challenge him.
The idea that he might still make it to the public eye, even with the swirling controversy over his friendship and affair with Jeffrey Epstein must be rejected.
Andrew had suffered two setbacks during his US sex trial. He admitted that he doesn’t have any proof of his famous claim that he can sweat, and he also saw the judge reject an attempt to stop the case.
Miss Roberts is being sued by Miss Roberts’ attorneys for damages. Miss Roberts was a victim of the car crash Newsnight interview in which he denied her claims.
According to senior royal insiders, the duke was a Royal Family member and operated with impunity because his staff were too scared to challenge him. Pictured: Prince Andrew
However, his legal team stated that there were no documents in the plaintiff’s possession, custody or under his control.
Andrew requested that Andrew not delay the case. He claimed Miss Roberts couldn’t sue in America because she resides in Australia.
Yesterday was the prince’s first public appearance since his friend and British socialite Ghislaine Maxiwell was convicted on multiple charges of child sex traficking. He drove himself to Windsor Castle.
His Newsnight interview also revealed that he had been at the Pizza Express in Woking on the date Miss Roberts claims they went to in London. He was told to show this as well.
Miss Roberts is now Giuffre and claims that she had slept with Andrew three more times in 2001. This was at the time she was 17, when Epstein controlled her.
Yesterday’s public appearance was his first since the conviction of several counts of child trafficking by her friend, British socialite Ghislaine, for driving herself to Windsor Castle. Photo: Prince Andrew with Maxwell at Ascot 2000
He strongly denied the allegations. However, Maxwell’s conviction has put more pressure on the prince.
A senior royal advisor spoke on condition anonymity to say that although no one outside the Prince’s personal office knew the extent of his friendship with Maxwell and Epstein, it was an ongoing issue for the Royal household.
‘Anyone who even dared to offer their professional advice that maybe his way wasn’t the right one was met with a decisive ‘f*** off out of my office’,’ the source said.
Other former royal staff back up the account, claiming that the prince behaved as though he didn’t need to answer anyone and allowed himself to “go rogue”.
Pictured in 2001: Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre with Ghislaine maxwell
Andrew’s role in roving trade “ambassador” was known to be particularly problematic. This was where he was constantly criticised for cozying up with highly controversial businessmen and leaders around the world.
An ex-member of Buckingham Palace’s staff recalled the ‘impossible task’ it took to convince either the prince or his advisors to follow any instructions. “The duke stated that he only answered to the Queen,” they added.
“He would not take any advice.” [He]He acted in total impunity, and his staff was too afraid to challenge him as a member the Royal Family. He benefited from the support of Her Majesty, who almost always supported him.
“There is an element of Buckingham Palace sleepingwalking into Andrew’s whole crisis. Andrew would lie to his family and say that the whole thing was false, and would soon disappear.
Andrew (pictured) has resigned following his Newsnight interview. Insiders stated that Andrew’s decision to return to public life was not possible because it was “unsatisfactory”.
Andrew took a break from his duties after the Newsnight interview. However, insiders claimed that it was not satisfactory for Andrew to resume public duties. They stated that it would have been better for everyone to end the boil immediately and permanently.
Andrew will again try to have Miss Roberts’ case dismissed Tuesday.
In court papers, however, the legal team of her client made clear that they were going to test Newsnight’s alibi. Yesterday, he denied her claims that he was sweating during their dance in London. Instead, he claimed that he has a peculiar medical condition’ making it difficult for him not to perspire. The lawyers want to see proof of his “alleged condition of anhidrosis”.
The police could request that his bodyguards from the past testify as to the whereabouts and activities of the duke during the time Miss Roberts claimed they were having sexual relations. Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the matter last night.
STEPHEN GLOOVER: The legal tricks are no longer valid. The monarchy is being threatened by Prince Andrew
Can Prince Andrew save himself? Is his good reputation about to get soiled, causing further damage not just for him, but also the monarchy?
No one can yet answer these questions definitively because no one other than Prince Andrew and a handful of people know whether he is wholly innocent of allegations made by Virginia Giuffre (formerly Roberts) that he sexually abused her in London and New York and on a Caribbean island in 2001 when she was 17.
If he is blameless, as he vehemently insists that he is, it is obviously in his interests and those of the Royal Family for him to strain every sinew to convince the world of his innocence. He has not yet done this.
Prince Andrew is the shining star, writes STEPHEN GLOVER
This week’s conviction means that the prince has just about escaped with his combination of stone-walling and evasion. However, it was at great cost to him credibility. A completely new approach is required by the prince after Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of being a child-sex trader. He has suddenly found himself in a much worse situation.
Andrew’s name is in more spotlight, partly due to the fact that we now know that his guest at Balmoral Castle, Windsor Castle, Sandringham was both wicked and depraved.
The famous photo of Prince Andrew smiling and wrapping his arm around Virginia Giuffre’s naked midriff, taken by Ghislaine Maxwell in her home, takes on an even deeper meaning.
How did that happen? Was that the prince, aged 41 years old, doing? What was he doing with the arm he was holding on to a 17 year-old girl in a sex trading ring for Jeffrey Epstein’s friend Maxwell?
Prince Andrew photographed during his interview on BBC Newsnight 2019
Andrew’s allegations that Maxwell’s or Epstein’s victims were involved in the case are now being believed by juries. Virginia Giuffre, however, was not summoned to the stand as a witness.
Can the prince seriously believe that his previous policy of bobbing and weaving – he told BBC’s Newsnight in a disastrous interview in 2019 that he couldn’t even remember meeting Giuffre – is remotely sustainable following Maxwell’s conviction?
Take a look at what Andrew and his attorneys have done in recent months. Andrew was accused in an attempt to hide, duck and run from his lawyers after Virginia Giuffre sued him. Andrew should have received them as a man.
Andrew Brettler (the aggressive US attorney) tried to convince Giuffre that his claims were both ‘baseless’ and possibly illegal, while simultaneously claiming that the court papers weren’t properly served. Judge Lewis Kaplan retorted in good faith: “Let’s just get to the content.
The prince’s attorneys changed their tune in October by branding Giuffre a “money-hungry, sex kitten” who had initiated this ridiculous lawsuit against Prince Andrew to get another payday.
The latest twist was to claim that Virginia Giuffre, who was pretending she was a US citizen but actually lives in Australia and the American court does not have jurisdiction to hear this case. The arguments will be heard by the judge on Tuesday.
Prince Andrew will have to defend himself, whether it is in connection to Giuffre’s lawsuit or other charges that could arise in the aftermath of Maxwell’s conviction. If he declines to do so, the world will increasingly conclude that he is guilty – with possibly calamitous consequences for the monarchy.
He has always behaved as if the allegations against him were his own. He seems to believe that the only thing that matters is whether he wants to interview himself and then shoot himself in his foot or dodge court papers, unleash attack-dog attorneys who abuse language or give an interview.
Prince Andrew strongly refutes Ms Giuffre’s (pictured in court in New York, August 27, 2019,) claims that he had slept with her following her claim to having been trafficked.
Jeffrey Epstein Associate Ghislaine Maxiwell watches as her guilty verdict in the sex abuse case against her is read out in New York City’s courtroom sketches on Wednesday
But it is not. Andrew’s reputation will be at stake, though he has been able to protect it with remarkable clod-hopping skills. But there is something infinitely more important at stake – the position of Her Majesty the Queen as she approaches the 70th anniversary of the start of her reign.
The monarchy will be permanently damaged if the entitled, pompous prince persists in giving the impression there are two sets of laws that govern the behavior of individuals like himself and one for everyone else.
He must stop running the show in an incompetent or haphazard manner. He must give an honest account about himself and explain the closeness he had with Ghislaine Maxill, a child trafficker, as well as Jeffrey Epstein, a paedophile who committed suicide in jail.
Uninnocent men should not have anything to fear from the law. Although the prince is entitled to a fair hearing and he can refuse very serious charges, it becomes shameful, disgraceful, and ultimately destructive.
His reputation as a foolish, inept man is well-known for his bad company. He is a fool who keeps bad company, and millions of people love the monarchy. It is not right for Prince Andrew to destroy it.