Radar Online
Prince Andrew might lose royal privileges if he fails to win his fight in the sexual assault lawsuit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
The report comes just days after his former associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was found guilty of grooming and trafficking underage girls for her former boyfriend, convicted sex offenderJeffrey Epstein.
According to the Sunday Times, royal advisers have discussed potential actions to be taken upon the prince if he loses his battle concerning Giuffre’s case.
One of their plans was to ask the Duke of York to stop using his title as a British royal.
An insider reportedly told the outlet, “If [Prince Andrew] 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.”
In addition, the courtiers would allegedly request Andrew to give up his remaining links to charities and cast him into a form of “internal exile” by the royal institution.
As Radar previously reported, the prince faces legal troubles after Giuffre filed a lawsuit against him, claiming she was forced to have sex with the royal three times when she was only 17 years old.
Andrew had maintained his innocence and denied the allegations despite some damning evidence, including a picture of them taken from inside Maxwell’s London house in 2001.
However, the source from the palace also revealed it would be difficult to convince the Queen to strip Andrew of the Duke of York title as “it was held by her father, George VI, before he became king and she bestowed it on her favourite son. But he has disgraced that title.”
The outlet also reported the prince is under pressure to surrender his nine military roles. The military chiefs allegedly believe it is no longer appropriate for Andrew to carry his honorary titles if he loses the suit.
A spokesman from Buckingham Palace later responded to the claims regarding the title drop, stating, “This is speculation and the comments are without foundation. We would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.”
Following Maxwell’s guilty verdict last week, Andrew’s legal team reportedly has been in crisis mode and “locked in emergency talks.”
They were allegedly considering reaching out to one of Maxwell’s victims to aid him in his civil case with Giuffre.
“Andrew’s US team immediately seized upon Carolyn‘s testimony,” a legal source claimed. “They believe she holds a smoking gun to any possible role Virginia played in Epstein’s pyramid scheme of abuse.”
