A day after a New York judge ruled that a civil lawsuit accusing Britain’s Prince Andrew of rape can proceed, Buckingham Palace announced that the second son of Queen Elizabeth II has been stripped of both his military titles and the special status that allows him to give charities the Royal seal of approval.
“With The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen,” the palace said in a statement. “The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”
“The revoking of titles and patronages comes after 150 British veterans signed an open letter calling for the queen to strip her son of his military titles,” reports The Washington Post.
The Associated Press provides background on the accusation levied at Andrew:
[Virginia] Giuffre sued the 61-year-old Andrew in August, saying she was coerced into sexual encounters with him in 2001 by [deceased financier Jeffrey] Epstein and his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre said she was sexually abused by Andrew at Maxwell’s London home, at Epstein’s New York mansion and his estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Andrew’s lawyers had said the lawsuit lacked specificity and was disqualified by the [$500,000] deal she reached in 2009 with lawyers for Epstein. They also attacked Giuffre’s credibility and motives, saying in October that the lawsuit was aimed at achieving “another payday at his expense and at the expense of those closest to him.”
“I think it’s very important to Virginia Giuffre that this matter be resolved in a way that vindicates her and vindicates the other victims,” her lawyer, David Boies, told BBC’s Newsnight. “A purely financial settlement is not anything that I think she’s [Giuffre] interested in.”
The court ruling on Wednesday allows the lawsuit to move to the discovery phase. “Andrew now faces the prospect of Giuffre giving a detailed account in court of the allegation she was trafficked to have sex with the Queen’s second son when she was 17,” reports The Guardian.
The outlet adds:
Andrew has three main options: ignoring the lawsuit, which is his right; engaging with the American legal system to defend himself against the allegations, or attempting to reach an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre. If he ignores the civil proceedings, a default judgment would be made in favour of Giuffre.
