LONDON – Prince Andrew may have renounced his titles, but questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein have not given up on him or the embattled British royal family.
It seems like every day there are new devastating reports about Andrew, 65, his friendship with the late pedophile financierand allegations that the prince had sex with Epstein's trafficked victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre when she was 17, which he denies.
In his posthumous memoirs “Nobody's Girl” Published Tuesday, Giuffre, who committed suicide in April at age 41, said Andrew acted as if sex with her “was his birthright.”
Andrew, who reached a legal settlement with Giuffre in February 2022 after she filed a civil lawsuit against him in a New York court, has repeatedly denied dating her.
But the ongoing scandal refuses to subside and could cause even greater damage to the monarchy. whose popularity continues to decline after the death of everyone's loved one Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.
King Charles III sought to protect the Firm from the cloud hanging over his younger brother. Andrew said in a statement last week that with Charles' “consent” he would “no longer use my title or the honors that have been bestowed upon me,” including Duke of York.
But questions still remain unanswered about what the palace knew and when, given calls from lawmakers and others for the royal family to oust Andrew entirely.
“The Queen's deep and wide support meant the family was better able to deal with any disputes that might arise – and that's a bad thing,” said Craig Prescott, who teaches law at Royal Holloway, University of London and specializes in the constitutional and political role of the monarchy.
“These particular allegations are, of course, extremely damaging in the first place, but they also run counter to some of the arguments that members of the royal family are raising,” he said.
Andrew's agreement Friday to relinquish his titles came after emails released in documents in a court case unrelated to the prince showed he had been communicating with Epstein for longer than he had previously admitted.
It “paints him in black and white as a liar,” NBC News correspondent Daisy McAndrew told TODAY on Sunday. “And how can you trust everything he says?”
Then on Sunday London's Metropolitan Police said it was investigating reports that Andrew asked one of its officers to dig up dirt on Giuffre. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told NBC News that the reports should be “considered accordingly.”
Monday brought two more revelations: first, Andrew hasn't paid rent on his Royal Lodge residence for 20 years, it was revealed in freedom of information request from The Times newspaper in the Crown Estate, which handles royal finances. Neither Andrew nor Buckingham Palace responded to the report.
This was followed by the publication of Giuffre's posthumous memoirs.
She wrote that she had sex with the prince three times, including an “orgy” involving “eight other young girls” who “appeared to be under 18 and did not actually speak English.”
She then suffered three weeks of “irregular bleeding” before waking up in a “pool of blood” and Epstein taking her to the hospital, she wrote.
Epstein, who committed suicide in prison in 2019 shortly after his arrest federal sex trafficking chargeslater told her she had suffered a miscarriage and she suspected he was conspiring with the doctor to keep it a secret, Giuffre said.
After seeing a photo of Andrew and Epstein strolling through New York's Central Park in 2010—after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from people under 18—Giuffre wrote that she was “outraged to see my two abusers walking together.” But “what struck me most was that a member of the royal family would be so stupid as to appear in public with Epstein.”
Andrew has previously denied the allegations, saying he has “no recollection of ever meeting this woman, nothing at all.” In a statement announcing the renunciation of his titles, he said: “I strongly reject the allegations against me.”
A civil sexual assault lawsuit filed by Giuffre against Andrew was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
Although Buckingham Palace typically says it does not speak on behalf of the prince, Andrew has played a prominent role at some recent royal events, including the queen's funeral.
Some lawmakers are demanding that Andrew be formally stripped of his titles by an act of Parliament – a rare intrusion into royal affairs by Britain's supposedly separate government.
The last time this happened was in 1917, when Parliament used the Dispossession Act to strip German members of the British Royal Family of their titles during the First World War.
It's not without risks, according to Royal Holloway's Prescott.
“If you have a law that strips Prince Andrew of his dukedom, can a cheeky MP move an amendment and strip Prince Harry of his dukedom of Sussex?” – he said.
The government has said it does not support this. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said on Monday that while “our thoughts should be with Jeffrey Epstein's victims, these are “royal family matters”.
The nuclear option involves the king using the so-called “Letters Patent” to strip Andrew of his title as prince.
In doing so, the palace must distance itself from Andrew and ensure that the backlash from any further censure does not further damage an institution that requires public support.
“It is true that the monarchy was not voted in,” Prescott said. “But if the public mood changes and people no longer want a monarchy, then you think politics will follow.”
