The Duke of York and Virginia Giuffre have reached a ‘settlement in principle’ in the civil claim filed in the US, court documents show.
A document submitted to a US court said: “Virginia Giuffre and Prince Andrew have reached an out-of-court settlement. The parties will file a stipulated dismissal upon Ms Giuffre’s receipt of the settlement (the sum of which is not being disclosed).”
Image licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. 07/09/2019. Bruges, Belgium.Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, attending a memorial to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bruges in his role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. Picture by i-Images
The documents continued: “Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights. Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks.
“It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years. Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others.
“He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.”
The settlement comes a month after Andrew returned his patronages and military affiliations to The Queen, effectively ending any way back to public life.
The full statement from Buckingham Palace at the time read as follows: “With The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen.
“The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”
Prince Andrew answers questions regarding his associations with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (BBC still)
The Duke of York took part in an interview with Emily Maitlis on BBC’s Newsnight in late 2019. He was questioned as to ‘why now?’ for the interview, Andrew responded that ‘there is no good time to talk about Mr Epstein and all things associated’ with him, but thinks that now is ‘a very good opportunity’.
Following the car crash interview, Andrew stepped down from public duties. In his statement at the time, Prince Andrew said that he asked The Queen for permission to take this largely unprecedented move. The Duke acknowledged that his ‘former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support’
