‘THERE’S ONLY ONE OF US TELLING THE TRUTH, AND I KNOW THAT’S ME’
ACCUSER TELLS BBC PRINCE ANDREW NOT HONEST ABOUT HER BEING TRAFFICKED FOR SEX ENCOUNTER
The woman who alleges she was trafficked to London to have sex with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, when she was a teenager has dismissed his denials as “ridiculous excuses” that he knows are untrue.
In her first U.K. television interview, Virginia Giuffre issued a rebuttal to the Duke’s TV interview in which he claimed he had no recollection of meeting her and denied sleeping with her.
The interview backfired and resulted in him effectively being fired as a working royal while charities and patronages flocked to end their association with him.
Giuffre told the BBC’S Panorama in a Monday night broadcast: “The people on the inside are going to keep coming up with these ridiculous excuses. Like his arm was elongated or the photo was doctored, or, uh, he came to New York to break up with Jeffrey Epstein.
“I mean come on, I’m calling BS on this, because that’s what it is. He knows what happened. I know what happened, and there’s only one of us telling the truth, and I know that’s me.”
Giuffre, who is now married and lives in Australia, added: “I implore the people in the U.K. to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being OK.
“This is not some sordid sex story. This is a story of being trafficked. This is a story of abuse and this is a story of your guys’ royalty.”
Giuffre, 35, claims she was trafficked to the U.K. in 2001 by Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, and was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions in 2001 and 2002, when she was 17.
She was interviewed by Panorama three weeks before the prince’s interview was broadcast last month, but was then reinterviewed for her response.
It has been suggested that Andrew agreed to the Newsnight interview in order to get his version of events across first.
The photograph of the two of them purports to show Andrew standing with his arm around Giuffre’s waist in 2001.
In the background is Ghislaine Maxwell, his close friend, who has been accused of acting as a madam for Epstein, procuring young girls for him to abuse.
The image was taken at Maxwell’s house in London’s Belgravia where, on the same night, Giuffre — then known as Victoria Roberts — claims she was forced to sleep with Andrew.
In his interview, the prince cast doubt on the veracity of the photograph, suggesting it may have been doctored. He said he was wearing his “travelling clothes” in the picture, and claimed that whenever he went out in London he wore a suit and tie. He also that he had never been upstairs in Maxwell’s house and that he did not make public displays of affection.
Giuffre poured scorn on suggestions it had been faked, telling Panorama the picture was genuine and that she had handed the original to the FBI in 2011.
“I think the world is getting sick of these ridiculous excuses,” she said, adding that there was a date on the back of the photo showing when it was printed.
Giuffre said that on arrival in London she was introduced to the prince and then taken to Tramp nightclub in
IN THE CAR GHISLAINE TELLS ME THAT I HAVE TO DO FOR ANDREW WHAT I DO FOR JEFFREY.
Mayfair with him, Epstein and Maxwell. She alleges they went into the VIP section and the Duke asked what she would like to drink.
“Then he asked me to dance. He is the most hideous dancer I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Giuffre said: “It was horrible and this guy was sweating all over me — like his sweat was raining basically everywhere.
On leaving the club, she claims Maxwell gave her instructions. “In the car Ghislaine tells me that I have to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey, and that just made me sick,” she said.
Andrew said he could not have been at the club that night because he had taken his daughter, Princess Beatrice, to a party at Pizza Express in Woking, which he remembered because it was a “very unusual” thing for him to do. He said he did not drink, had never bought a drink at Tramp and had no idea where the bar was.
Andrew said he did not sweat during that period due to a “peculiar medical condition” arising from an overdose of adrenalin he received during the Falkland’s War when he was shot.
Panorama revealed that lawyers for five of Epstein’s victims want the prince to provide testimony in their court cases. Pre-trial witness subpoenas have been prepared for all five cases and could be served on the prince if he returns to the U.S. Andrew said he would take legal advice but that if “push came to shove” he would testify.