ANDREW’’S AUSSIE LOVER SPEAKS OUT
Royal love scandal explodes There’s tension at the palace as accusations from Andy’s past come back to haunt him
When reports rocked the world that the Queen’s third son, the Duke of York, was allegedly embroiled in a sex scandal with an underage female in January 2015, Buckingham Palace stepped in to emphatically deny the shock allegations.
The prince, who’d earned the nickname “Randy Andy” was holidaying in a $42,000-a-week luxury Swiss ski chalet at the time and was forced to rush back to the UK to face the press and his family.
And there were no two people more distraught by his alleged antics than his daughters, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice. The ordeal left the royal siblings’ lives in tatters, with Andrew forced to deny the accusations.
The prince said in a statement, “I just wish to reiterate and to reaffirm the statements that have already been made on my behalf by Buckingham Palace,” before adding, “My focus is on my work.”
BACK TO BITE HIM!
Now, Prince Andrew’s sordid past has come back to haunt them once more. In a bombshell revelation, the American teenager who accused the prince of allegedly sleeping with her three times when she was only 17 has resurfaced, and she’s living a secret life in Queensland. Virginia Roberts, 33, now known by her married name of Giuffre, has turned her life around and lives in Cairns with her Australian husband Robert and their three school-aged children. They reside in a quiet community surrounded by palm trees – a million miles from the nightclub in London where the prince allegedly seduced her as a teenager. Speaking for the first time since settling a civil case in
which she claimed she worked as a “sex slave” for US billionaire and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Virginia conceded she’s happy with her new beginnings. Her husband of 16 years, who she married after 10 days of dating in Thailand, is “very protective of me”, she says.
A NEW LIFE
It’s little wonder Robert, who grew up outside Sydney, whisked his wife and their young kids to the remote Queensland town. When she made extraordinary claims against Jeffrey and his long-time friend Andrew three years ago, Virginia was forced to flee her native Florida.
As part of her claims, Virginia alleged Jeffrey’s then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell recruited her at 15 to perform sexual favours and “to be everything a man wanted”.
In response, Ghislaine dismissed and denied Virginia’s claims, saying they were “obvious lies”. It was alleged she flew around the world under the guise of being Jeffrey’s preferred masseuse.
Diary entries and court papers from Virginia revealed she allegedly slept with the Queen’s son on three occasions – the first time in London. After a group dinner, Virginia says she escorted Prince Andrew to Club Tramp. “He was the most incredibly hideous dancer I’d ever seen… we only stayed at the club for a little over an hour before his highness was dripping from sweat and ready to embark to another quieter setting, where we could get to know each other better.
“From the way he was fondling me on the dance floor, I knew it was a man’s polite way of saying he wanted to intimately get acquainted,” she said. “He was caressing every part of my naked body and filling
my head with endless compliments about my blossoming figure. The entire affair was short-lived, when his climax was achieved he was not the same attentive guy I had known for the past few hours.
“Instead, [he] quickly got dressed, said his goodbyes and slipped out of my bedroom to the driver waiting for him outside.”
Virginia penned it was a “first for me” but she was “fearful” of letting down the prince, Jeffrey, and Ghislaine.
As part of civil papers against Jeffrey, Virginia alleged she had sex with Andrew, who is currently on cloud nine after the marriage of his daughter Eugenie, 27, to Jack Brooksbank – three times in Jeffrey’s homes in London, New York and his private Caribbean island.
ACCUSATIONS DENIED
Ghislaine maintained throughout that the claims were “shown to be untrue”, and in 2017 Virginia settled with Ghislaine out of court for an undisclosed amount, while Buckingham Palace vehemently denied Virginia’s accusations in several press statements. Now, Virginia has swapped jetsetting with rich older men for school runs and afternoons at her local pub. Friends say she loves a drink and playing the pokies. They live in a gated community full of families with well-kept homes worth around $500,000, and drive two new-model family cars.
One neighbour, who would only give his name as John, says: “I read a bit in the Cairns Post about that case but I had no idea she lives across the street!”
A bartender at the Smithfield Tavern, where Virginia and Robert are regulars, adds, “They’re both lovely, especially her. I can’t believe she’s involved with all that. It just goes to show that you never know anything about people!”
Virginia lived a tough life in her teens. She claims she was “recruited” by Ghislaine at 15 after Jeffrey apparently spotted her picking up towels at Donald Trump’s Florida Mar-a-lago resort where her dad worked as a groundsman. The Roberts family say Virginia’s husband, who she married at 19, was her saving grace. “She met Robbie and turned her life around,” her aunt Carol says.
Sources say that Robbie has “a heart of gold when it comes to his family, and if he has a fault, it’s that he’s almost too protective of Virginia. But you can’t blame the guy, given all she’s been through? Relocating to Cairns was the best decision they ever made. She’s happy with her new life. She’s fairly private, but very polite. Virginia calls people ‘sweetheart’, a lot, which is nice because she’s a real sweetheart herself.”