Prince Andrew’s legal team yesterday formally filed an eleven page document in response to Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s lawsuit against him. Virginia is suing him in US civil court, alleging that the Queen of England’s second son raped her when she was a teenager, after they were introduced by Andrew’s friends, the dead rapist pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
I know people, including me, have been shouting about this for a long time but seriously, can we summon more outrage over the fact that the Queen’s son is being sued for rape?!
Anyway, in Andrew’s paperwork, his lawyers are once again asking for the court to dismiss the case on the same technicalities they’ve been blowharding about for weeks – that she took too long to file suit (there’s no statute of limitations in New York), that she doesn’t reside in America, and that the settlement that she and Jeffrey Epstein reached in 2009 protects Andrew from any claims. All of these reasons for dismissal had been previously rejected by Judge Lewis Kaplan. But Team non-HRH Andrew keeps stomping their feet over it anyway.
And they came out all strong and puffy about “demanding a trial by jury”. Which has been the big headline in the news, even though Virginia previously already asked for a trial by jury, so it’s not like Andrew was changing the trial in any material way. But the way they’ve emphasised this request, like he’s riding in on a white horse and glowing with integrity, the big performance here is that he’s so innocent, he will bravely stand before a jury. A hero!
Please.
Like I said, it’s not like Virginia was asking for anything different, so I feel like all this bluster is strategic, for show and there is indeed speculation that it’s all a cover while they negotiate a possible settlement behind the scenes. Because, really, it’s already mortifying enough for the British royal family that one of their own may have to defend himself in court for rape in the United States and then an added layer of humiliation that he has to appeal to twelve American commoners for his innocence!
Remember, commoners should be bowing and curtsying TO him, not deciding on whether or not he’s guilty! But only after hearing weeks of testimony about his personal life, including his sex life! Imagine!
Right now it doesn’t sound like Virginia has any interest in settling. Her legal team has released a statement:
“Prince Andrew’s Answer continues his approach of denying any knowledge or information concerning the claims against him, and purporting to blame the victim of the abuse for somehow bringing it on herself. We look forward to confronting Prince Andrew with his denials and attempts to blame Ms Giuffre for her own abuse at his deposition and at trial.”
The deposition. On VIDEO. And we all know, Andrew is GREAT on video, lol. And at trial? He has done everything he can to avoid this trial. But he may be running out of excuses. If he does have to show up, think about the cameras, the media frenzy outside of the courthouse, how all of this will look for the monarchy… during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
