Prince Andrew, as you know, is being sued in civil court by Virginia Roberts Giuffre who is accusing him of raping her when she was sex-trafficked to him by Andrew’s friends, the dead rapist pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, recently convicted of sex crimes. A judge in New York is currently deciding whether or not to dismiss the case; legal experts don’t think that’ll be likely – but, you know, British royalty and all.
Still, Prince Andrew’s legal fees are likely substantial already, and will be even more substantial should the case go to trial. It’s been reported that the Queen is paying but should the case go to trial and should Andrew not win, there’s the issue of settlement … and, well, it’s not like Andrew’s making any money right now. And imagine if Andrew loses the case, where will the money for Virginia come from? Imagine if there’s a direct line item in the Queen’s accounting that goes straight to her son’s rape victim?
This may be one of the reasons why he needs to sell his Swiss chalet. It’s a place in Verbiers and he actually hadn’t paid it off until recently. The person that he and Sarah Ferguson bought it from was suing him for not making his payments so he couldn’t turn around and sell the place until he actually owned it outright. Apparently he finally settled up with the owner a few weeks ago so now he’s free unload it, and just in time too because the whole world can see he needs the cash. Word is he’s already lined up a buyer for something like £18 million so, presumably, he won’t have to hit his mother up for help… although… well… he may have more debt that we don’t know about. It’s not like he has the most responsible financial reputation, or friendship reputation. And that may have been one of the reasons why he had connections to so many shady people who were much more liquid than him. This is someone who, even before the Epstein scandal became the front page, was making headlines for his poor decision making, like when he was the UK’s trade envoy. When he stepped down from that job, unceremoniously by the way, Andrew continued to be enabled, appointing himself some kind of entrepreneurial expert, running a program for emerging businesspeople by exploiting his connection to Buckingham Palace, literally, as the initiative was called Pitch@Palace.
And yet. They’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to protect him, even though he’s the member of the royal family who has brought the most sh-t right up to the palace gates. And we may not be done. Again, if this goes to trial, that is global heat on him in the courtroom and so many of his secrets potentially exposed. At which point, will any amount of money be enough to cover the royal damage?
