Prince Andrew settlement: Five unanswered questions including who is paying for ‘£12m’ donation

Duke of York avoids public trial after reaching an out of court settlement with sex abuse accuser – but will he ever return to public life?

Prince Andrew has avoided a public trial over sex abuse allegations after reaching an out-of-court settlement (Will Oliver/EPA)

Prince Andrew has avoided a public trial over sex abuse allegations after reaching an out-of-court settlement with his accuser.

The Duke of York has agreed to settle the civil claim with Virginia Giuffre for an undisclosed amount widely reported to be a multimillion-pound sum.

He intends to make a “substantial donation” to Ms Giuffre’s victims’ rights charity as part of the deal, according to a joint statement released through their lawyers.

In the letter, submitted on behalf of both parties to the United States District Court on Tuesday, Andrew’s legal representatives said he had “never intended to malign Ms Giuffre’s character” and that he “regrets his association” with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Ms Giuffre, also known as Virginia Roberts, made the claim against Andrew for damages in her home country of the US, claiming she was trafficked by convicted paedophile Epstein, Andrew’s friend, to have sex with the royal when she was 17, a minor under US law.

Although the parties have settled the case, the agreement is not an admission of guilt from the duke and he has always strenuously denied the allegations against him.

The duke was stripped of his honorary military roles by the Queen last month – and an MP for York has now called on him to withdraw his ducal title in light of the settlement.

However Buckingham Palace sources have reportedly said the duke will keep his remaining titles.

We’ve taken a look at some of the unanswered questions, including who will pay for the settlement, which could reportedly be up to £12m.

Who is going to pay the bill and how much will it cost?

Queen Elizabeth II pictured with her second son, Prince Andrew, at the Royal Ascot horseracing meet in 2015 (Alastair Grant/AP)

According to legal and royal experts, the Queen is likely to help her son pay Ms Giuffre to settle the sex abuse lawsuit.

Reports suggest Andrew will pay Ms Giuffre up to £12m, including a £2m donation to charity, to stop her lawsuit going to trial in the US civil court.

The Daily Telegraph reported the monarch was set to help her second son pay his accuser more than £12m using funds from her private Duchy of Lancaster estate, which is worth an estimated £23m, although Buckingham Palace declined to confirm whether this was the case.

Nick Goldstone, the head of dispute resolution at international law firm Ince, told The Independent he expected the settlement to be closer to £10m.

He said that sum would likely include “legal costs on both sides, what has been described as a substantial charitable donation - whatever that means - and, one must presume, in addition, some damages”.

Royal finances expert David McClure, on the other hand, said he thought the payout was likely to be about £5m.

The royal family has been urged to reveal if the Duke of York will receive financial assistance from the monarch to foot his legal bill, the details of which have not been made public.

There was speculation last month that the duke was trying to sell his ski chalet in the Swiss resort of Verbier, which he bought in 2014 with his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, and is valued at £17m.

Is the photo of Andrew with Virginia real?

The Duke of York with his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, when she was about 17 years old (Virginia Roberts Giuffre)

A photograph showing Andrew with his arm around the waist of Ms Giuffre as Ghislaine Maxwell stood in the background was expected to be a key piece of evidence at his civil trial in New York later this year.

Ms Giuffre had included the photo, said to have been taken at Maxwell’s London home on 10 March 2001, in her lawsuit against the duke.

The 38-year-old alleged it was taken on the night she was first forced to have sex with him, aged 17, after being trafficked by Maxwell and Epstein. The duke denies the allegations.

Andrew’s lawyers had requested access to the original photograph, in an attempt to cast doubt over the authenticity of the image.

His legal team had reportedly hoped to use a photographic expert to study the item in a bid to discount it as credible evidence.

An unnamed source close to Ms Giuffre’s legal team told The Daily Telegraph she no longer had it in her possession – although they insisted it did not mean the photograph was lost.

Another insider told the Daily Mail they weren’t certain the original picture “still existed”.

Andrew insisted he did not remember the photo being taken and questioned its authenticity.

During a BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, he told journalist Emily Maitlis: “From the investigations that we’ve done, you can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph.”

Was Prince Andrew really at Pizza Express?

Pizza Express branch in Woking (Google)

Prince Andrew claimed he could not have had sex with a 17-year-old girl on the night he was accused of doing so – because he had taken his daughter to Pizza Express in Woking.

Ms Giuffre alleged she was forced to sleep with the duke when they went back to a house in Belgravia after dancing together in a club on 10 March 2001.

But in one of his most memorable claims during a BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, Andrew denied the allegations, saying he had taken his daughter Beatrice to Pizza Express in Woking for a party.

When asked why he remembered the specific trip to the restaurant, he replied: “Because going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do, a very unusual thing for me to do.”

He also claimed Ms Giuffre’s description of him “profusely sweating” as they allegedly partied was false because, at the time, he had a medical condition that meant he could not sweat.

Will Andrew return to public life?

Prince Andrew pictured leaving Buckingham Palace with Prince Harry for the Trooping of the Colour in 2006 (MJ Kim/Getty Images)

Royal experts have suggested it would be “impossible” for Prince Andrew to ever return to public duties in the wake of his settlement with Ms Giuffre being published.

The Duke of York stepped back from his royal duties in 2019 amid the sex abuse scandal and was stripped of his royal patronages and military titles last month after a US judge ruled Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit should proceed to a civil trial.

Following the out-of-court settlement, it remains unclear if Andrew will seek to return to being a working royal.

But commentators said a comeback was “very, very unlikely” and suggested the duke would “forever be tainted” by the case.

There has also been speculation over whether Andrew will take part in events to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this year, with royal finances expert David McClure previously telling the Sun the duke would likely have been ordered to “keep his head down”.

Will the duke be stripped of his titles?

Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal patronages and military titles in January 2022 (Julien Warnand/EPA)

An MP for York has called on the Duke of York to withdraw his title as a show of “respect” for people living in the city.

Labour’s Rachael Maskell, who represents York Central, said Andrew must remove his association with the city in light of the settlement in his civil sex case.

Ms Maskell welcomed Andrew’s pledge to donate money to Ms Giuffre's charity which supports of victims’ rights, but said his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has caused “deep hurt and embarrassment” to York residents.

The Daily Telegraph reported the duke would keep his remaining titles, citing Buckingham Palace sources as saying the settlement had not altered the situation.

And defence secretary Ben Wallace said the decision on titles “rests obviously with the palace in the future”.

Asked if the Duke of York should be allowed to represent regiments, he told Sky News: “Well I don’t think he represents any of them at the moment, I think the palace took a decision that those titles were to be removed from him, so I think he is effectively acting now as a private citizen in so far as both addressing the challenges and the allegations.”