Prince Andrew has always denied Virginia Giuffre’s claims (Image: GETTY)
Prince Andrew’s abuse accuser, Virginia Giuffre, was “incredibly proud of herself” for “toppling” the Duke, her family have claimed. Ms Giuffre, who was previously known as Virginia Roberts (her maiden name), was one of the most prominent accusers of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and also a campaigner for the rights of victims of sex trafficking.
She took her life at her farm in Western Australia back in April, aged 41. American-born Giuffre brought a defamation case against Epstein in 2015 when she alleged that he, alongside former British socialite and also convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, sex-trafficked her when she was just 16 years old in 2000.
She also alleged that Epstein forced her to have sex with the Duke of York three times when she was 17 – in New York, London, and the US Virgin Islands. Prince Andrew has repeatedly and vehemently denied the claims but later settled a lawsuit against her for an undisclosed sum, without accepting any liability.
READ MORE: Virginia Giuffre’s diary includes ‘scary’ final days before death
Virginia Giuffre accused Prince Andrew of allegedly sexually assaulting her (Image: Getty)
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However, his links to Epstein led to him stepping down as a senior working member of the Royal Family in 2019.
Ms Giuffre’s brothers, Sky and Daniel, told The Times that she had always been “incredibly proud of herself” for having “toppled the [late] Queen of England’s favourite son”.
Her sister, Amanda Roberts, told the outlet: “When people told her ‘no’, or people told her they wouldn’t believe her, or that she was crazy, she would say ‘Watch me’.”
When Ms Giuffre brought a defamation case against Epstein in 2015, the judge struck the allegation from the record and said it was “immaterial and impertinent to the central claim”.
However, on August 9, 2019, court documents from the 2015 case were unsealed and released to the public. The following day, Epstein, who was arrested on July 6 for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York, was found dead in prison.
On November 16, 2019, Andrew gave his now-infamous interview to BBC’s Newsnight, where he claimed that he has “no recollection of ever meeting” Ms Giuffre, further denying the allegations against him.
Regarding Epstein, he stated that: “I have stayed in a number of his residences. At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.”
The Duke said that he could not have had sex with Ms Giuffre on the night she alleges because he had taken his daughter Princess Beatrice to a birthday party at Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey.
Prince Andrew famously addressed the accusations during his interview with BBC Newsnight (Image: BBC)
He also denied that the infamous picture of him appearing to have his hand around a young Ms Giuffre was real, saying: “Listen, I don’t remember, I don’t remember that photograph ever being taken.”
The interview led to a public backlash and days later, Andrew announced that he would be stepping down from his royal duties, adding that he deeply sympathised with Epstein’s victims and everyone who “wants some form of closure”.
In December of that year, Ms Giuffre appeared on BBC’s Panorama, further accusing the Duke of York of sexually abusing her. The interview was recorded before Andrew’s, which aired the previous month.
Virginia Giuffre holds a photo of herself as a teen (Image: Getty)
In it, she said: “He [Prince Andrew] knows what happened. I know what happened, and there’s only one of us telling the truth, and I know that’s me. I implore the people in the UK to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being ok.”
She added: “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.”
At the time, Buckingham Palace released a statement which read: “Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue. It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”
In August 2021, Ms Giuffre filed a lawsuit against the Duke of York for alleged sexual abuse.
In a statement to the ABC, she said: “I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me. The powerful and the rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions.
“I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but one can reclaim her life by speaking out and demanding justice.”
The next year, she reached an out-of-court settlement with the prince for an undisclosed amount. However, the settlement accepted no liability.
A letter filed to the court announcing the settlement read: “Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.
“Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks.”
The prince has always denied any wrongdoing.