As the Duke of York faces lawsuit over sex abuse allegations, what happens next?
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, has filed a lawsuit against the Duke of York in New York, seeking damages for allegedly sexually abusing her when she was under age.
Are the allegations against Prince Andrew finally heading to a US courtroom?
Quite possibly. Virginia Giuffre (nee Roberts) has claimed in papers filed in a New York civil court that the Prince sexually abused her 20 years ago on three separate occasions: in London, New York and in the US Virgin Islands.
Ms Giuffre alleges she was procured on behalf of Jeffrey Esptein, the convicted paedophile who was a friend of the Prince and later committed suicide.
So will the Duke take the stand?
Unlikely. That’s not an attractive proposition since a cross-examination of Prince Andrew is unlikely to go well. His performance on Newsnight was one of the great car crash interviews and a grilling by a skilled New York attorney risks a terrifying humiliation.
A trip to the US also raises the possibility of the FBI bringing him in for questioning as part of its ongoing investigation into Epstein’s crimes. Ghislaine Maxwell, Eptein’s former girlfriend and close friend of Prince Andrew, goes on trial on child sex trafficking charges in the autumn.
If the alleged events happened 20 years ago, then why is there a civil lawsuit now?
New York introduced a Child Victims Act in 2019 that allowed alleged survivors of under-18 sexual abuse to bring a case which was previously time-barred and gave them a year to do so. The one-year window was extended because of the pandemic and ends this week on 14 August.
How can the Duke avoid court?
One option is to settle the case out of court but that is not a very welcoming prospect. The Duke has always denied any wrongdoing but settling the case before it comes to court (without acknowledging liability) would nevertheless seriously damage his reputation.
Could he just ignore the legal claim?
One possible course of action is to do nothing and ignore any attempts by Ms Giuffre’s legal team to serve him with legal papers.
However, such a strategy risks a civil trial going ahead in his absence and would hugely increase the chances of a judge finding in the claimant's favour. Such a ruling would be catastrophic for the Prince because then a court would be officially labelling him a child sex abuser.
Could the case be switched to the UK?
Lawyers with good knowledge of the case suggest that the Prince could try to force the case to be switched to the High Court in London where they could try to have it struck out on grounds of lack of evidence.
If that is unsuccessful, the Prince might also argue that he has some form of sovereign or crown immunity because he was a working member of the Royal family and part of the British state apparatus at the time of the alleged incidents.
