Prince Andrew’s family urges him to settle out of court with Virginia Giuffre

This week, Prince Andrew basically affirmed to the court that Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit will proceed to trial by jury. It’s not like he had a choice, although the British papers definitely made it sound like Andrew was “demanding” a trial by jury, when really he was just telling the court “okay, let’s do this.” His only other option, legally, would have been not filing any legal response and just hiding out at Royal Lodge and allowing the trial to proceed without him. Andrew’s filing makes it seem like he’s going to participate in his defense and that he will agree to sit for a deposition at some point in the coming months. Incidentally, Virginia’s lawyer David Boies issued a statement in response to Andrew’s filing, saying:

“Prince Andrew’s Answer continues his approach of denying any knowledge or information concerning the claims against him, and purporting to blame the victim of the abuse for somehow bringing it on herself. We look forward to confronting Prince Andrew with his denials and attempts to blame Ms. Giuffre for her own abuse at his deposition and at trial.”

[Via The NY Post]

LOL. That is a threat. Before a messy-ass trial, Boies is saying that everyone knows the deposition will be absolutely catastrophic for Andrew. Speaking of, apparently Prince Charles and Prince William cannot bloody believe that Andrew hasn’t tried to settle this:

Senior royals led by Prince Charles and William are ‘shocked’ Prince Andrew wants to fight his civil sex abuse case before a jury and are trying to persuade him to settle it quickly, according to reports. The Duke of York has hit back at accusations of rape and sexual assault made by his accuser Virginia Giuffre, who was this month handed the right to take the Queen’s son to trial in the United States.

A royal source has claimed senior royals were shocked at his decision to have a jury trial and fear it could make things worse.

A royal source told The Sun: “After the car crash of Newsnight no-one thinks a seven-hour deposition is a good idea -if he were to appear in court it could be many times worse and senior royals were deeply shocked when they heard that he was demanding a jury trial. The best outcome for everyone is that this is settled as soon as possible. There are deep, deep worries that this will get worse and worse for the family and will overshadow Platinum Jubilee celebrations.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

“There are deep, deep worries that this will get worse and worse for the family.” YA THINK? When Andrew is sweating his way through his mountain of lies in a deposition with David Boies, there is no way for the Windsors to somehow “manage” the story. And once again – it bears repeating – Virginia originally wanted to settle!! Boies approached Andrew’s British lawyers repeatedly in 2019/2020 about a possible settlement attached to Andrew apologizing to Virginia. Andrew and his lawyers shrugged it off. And now that Virginia is in a position of strength… well, I just don’t see her settling for some low-ball offer from Andrew and his mummy.

Meanwhile, Andrew “relinquished his honorary membership of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews” this week. The Scottish golf club announced that they received notification of Andrew “handing back his membership.” Poor sausage can’t even golf his way through it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.