Disgraced royal, Prince Andrew, to give evidence in sex abuse lawsuit in March

Prince Andrew, the disgraced British royal family member, will give evidence in March in the sex abuse lawsuit brought forth by Virginia Giuffre. 

A source close to Andrew said, “We agreed to voluntarily produce the Duke for a deposition on March 10. Despite repeated requests, Ms. Giuffre still hasn’t committed to a date or location for her deposition”, as per Reuters. 

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph has noted that Andrew will speak under oath in London. 

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The case against Andrew has Giuffre accusing the royal family member of sexually abusing her when she was 17. She detailed how she was part of Jeffrey Epstein’s ring of girls and met Andrew at a nightclub, where Epstein’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell was also present. 

She’d told Giuffre at the time that the girl must do for Andrew what she did for Epstein. As per the allegations, Andrew had sex with Giuffre that night at Maxwell’s apartment. There were two other times they’d had similar encounters. One was in Epstein’s New York mansion, and the other on his exclusive island. 

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Giuffre has maintained throughout that Andrew knew she was underage at the time. Meanwhile, Andrew has denied these accusations. His lawyers too have called her claims baseless and hinted that Giuffre is merely after a payday from Andrew. The woman had received $500,000 in a civil settlement with Epstein in 2009.

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Nonetheless, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan has said that Andrew’s trial could start sometime between September and December 2022. If Giuffre wins, Andrew would owe her damages, and she’s asked for an unspecified amount. 

Notably, Andrew hasn’t been charged criminally, and no criminal charges can be brought in Giuffre’s suit either. However, the scandal has been enough for the royal family to distance themselves from Andrew. To that end, the Queen stripped her son of all titles, which leaves Andrew to fight this case as a private citizen.