Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LONELY TIMES FOR DUKE OF YORK » » He ‘joins in’ with daily Skype calls to his girls AS HE MISSES OUT ON FAMILY FUN
Andrew told to skip hol as sex case ruling looms
PRINCE Andrew was advised not to slope off on his family’s ski hol – fearing the publicity would add to an avalanche of woes.
With the world’s eyes on a possible civil court case over sex abuse claims in the US, the Duke of York stayed at home. He was literally a virtual recluse – using Skype for video calls to his people in Verbier, Switzerland.
We can reveal he had daily chats with daughters Beatrice and Eugenie and the rest of the party.
A source told the Sunday Mirror: “Beatrice and Eugenie were both very upset because they were hoping their children would be able to spend their first ski holiday with their grandad and the entire family.
SUPPORT
“Sadly it wasn’t to be, but they did hold Skype calls with their father nearly every day while they were in Verbier so that they could support him and he could see the grandchildren on holiday.”
It is claimed Andrew, 61, had been due to fly out with the group.
It included ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, sons-inlaw Edo Mapelli Mozzi, 38, and Jack Brooksbank, 35, plus grandson August, 10 months, and three-month-old granddaughter Sienna.
But the Duke got cold feet after his team advised him it would be “inappropriate” for him to be seen on holiday while facing sex allegations.
And Andrew’s former pal Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, has just been convicted in New York of sex trafficking for Jeffrey Epstein – further complicating any ski jaunt for Andrew.
The Duke is anxiously awaiting a US ruling from Judge Lewis Kaplan on whether he will face a full civil court case over allegations he sexually abused Virginia Giuffre on three occasions in 2001, when she was aged 17. He vehemently denies the claims.
Beatrice, 33, and Eugenie, 31, put aside the strain to enjoy the two twoweek ski break, before flying back from Geneva to Heathrow on Friday.
Our source said: “Beatrice and Eugenie fully support their father and are a very close family unit, which includes Sarah.
“It’s more about them being there for him and supporting him as opposed to questioning him about
the case. That’s not what the family is focused on – it’s about survival, protecting the family name and getting through it in one piece. The girls feel their father’s name is continually dragged through the mud unnecessarily, when really he is a good egg.
“They feel the whole thing is an unfortunate business and they don’t believe their father deserves what is happening to him.”
The royal party stayed at Andrew and ex-wife Fergie’s £17million Swiss chalet. But it could be the family’s final visit as it understood the skiloving prince is trying to sell the lodge as he faces spiralling legal bills.
He and Fergie, 62, bought it from millionaire French socialite Isabelle de Rouvre for £16.6million in 2014. But it has been reported they still owe £6.6million and that legal threats were issued last year after claims of a missed a payment in December 2019.
It is believed Andrew and Fergie agreed to sell the seven-bedroom property to a wealthy European investor last September, but the deal has still not been completed.
SOCIALITE
Andrew and Fergie divorced in 1996 but they remain close and have been living under the same roof at Royal Lodge, Windsor, since 2008.
The Duke had Christmas lunch with the Queen at Windsor Castle, when sources say he was in “good spirits” after his legal team reportedly told him they believed Maxwell was likely to be cleared. But just four days later she was convicted.
Then – hours after the ski party
Princesses had hoped for last hol with dad... it wasn’t to be, sadly ROYAL SOURCE ON SKI TRIP ANDREW MISSED
returned home – the Duke suffered a new blow with publication of a testimony from one of Maxwell’s victims.
Waiving her right to anonymity, Carolyn Andriano, 35, claimed Andrew’s accuser Ms Giuffre had texted her in March 2001 to say she was going for dinner in London with Andrew, Maxwell and Epstein.
She also alleged Ms Giuffre, now 38, later showed her the infamous picture of herself with Andrew inside Maxwell’s London mews house.
Carolyn, who was abused by Epstein and Maxwell from the age of 14, added: “I asked her if she’d been to the Palace. And she said, ‘I got to sleep with him’.
“I said, ‘What? You’re f ****** with me’, and she said, ‘No, I got to sleep with him’. She didn’t seem upset. She thought it was pretty cool.”
The claims came six days after the
Sunday Mirror’s exclusive interview with Anthony Figeruoa, 39 – Ms Giuffre’s boyfriend in 2001.
He said Virginia told him she “didn’t want to do it” – referring to sex with Andrew. Anthony says she was “scared” by what Epstein and Maxwell wanted
her to do. Andrew has always denied the allegations.
But if Ms Giuffre’s court case gets the go-ahead and she wins, legal experts predict she could get a £3million settlement. She is said to want her day in court to send a
message that anyone “with power and privilege” accused of abusing young girls will face justice.
The Prince still faces the prospect of being questioned by US authorities investigating links to Epstein. Florida-based lawyer Spencer Kuvin, who represents a number of Epstein victims, told the Mirror: “He now has two close friends convicted, so it should make him very concerned about his future.
“I believe the best way forward for him now is to settle. I would tell him he needs to get this case sorted out and fast.”
On Friday it emerged the Queen will not pay Andrew’s legal bills, now £2million, or any potential settlement. But he has assured her he is innocent and she still backs him.