‘The Queen won’t bail out Andrew’
Fresh royal scandal was brewing last week when it emerged that Prince Andrew had joined his mother in Balmoral to reportedly “avoid being served papers” relating to Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s attempt to sue him for “sexual assault”.
Lawyers are alleged to have made “multiple attempts” to serve him with the papers after it emerged that Virginia, now 38, made a US civil claim against the Duke, 61, for “sexually abusing” her 20 years ago, when she was under 18 – something he strongly denies. It’s the second time Andrew has made a trip to Balmoral this summer, having already visited his mother there in August with ex-wife Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson. And Paul says that, as well as the predicament with Harry and Meghan, the Queen will be under tremendous pressure regarding Prince Andrew.
He says, “Every royal family member has one trip to Balmoral each year to visit the Queen – so the fact Prince Andrew has fled back there to be at his mother’s side shows how much of a crisis this is. It’s a terrible time for the Queen. If Andrew is served papers and if the claim is successful, he could be ordered to pay Virginia millions of pounds, and he’ll most likely have to ask the Queen for the money – he only gets a modest pension from the Navy. But the Queen simply cannot be seen to be associated with this scandal. It would horrendously damage her reputation. She loves Andrew – he’s said to be her favourite son – but she knows her duty and that the future of the monarchy could be jeopardised. It will be hard for her but, in this case, duty comes before her family – she won’t bail out Andrew.”