Prince Andrew ‘says new revelation will be made public next month that will restore his reputation’ after Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal
- Duke of York claims the revelations will change the public perception of him
- He could launch a bid to overturn a settlement struck with sex abuse accuser
Prince Andrew is regularly voted the least popular member of the Royal Family and was stripped of his public duties, yet his self-belief remains undiminished.
I can reveal that King Charles’s brother has been assuring friends there is about to be a development which will restore his reputation.
If not quite back up to the heroic status he enjoyed as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands War, then at least to what it was before he was photographed in New York’s Central Park talking to Jeffrey Epstein, shortly after the latter’s release from prison in 2009 after serving a puzzlingly short sentence for sex offences.
It is when out shooting that the Duke of York tends to talk most freely. ‘He says that details are about to be made public which will change people’s perceptions of him,’ I’m told. ‘He says that it will happen next month.’
Prince Andrew is seen driving his Range Rover in the grounds of Windsor Castle
Prince Andrew, Duke of York is seen out riding at Windsor Castle
Although Andrew, 62, does not elaborate further, the Mail on Sunday reported at the weekend that he is to launch a dramatic bid to overturn the multi-million-pound settlement he struck with the woman who accused him of sexual assault.
The duke was reported to have consulted lawyers in an attempt to get Virginia Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, to retract her allegations and possibly secure an apology.
He was inspired after Ms Giuffre, 39, dropped her lawsuit against another man she accused of sexual assault, admitting she ‘may have made a mistake’ in identifying him.
But Ms Giuffre has always maintained her case against the duke was valid.
Undated handout photo issued by the US Department of Justice (left-right) of the Duke of York, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell
The son of the late Queen Elizabeth has suffered a series of humiliations since his car crash Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in November 2019, as institutions have severed ties with him.
The most shattering blow, I’m told, was the abrupt curtailment of his role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, reported by the Daily Mail just before Christmas.
He had already withdrawn from duties with the Grenadiers but had done so in the belief that he would, in time, return to them.
‘He says that Her Majesty [Queen Elizabeth] gave him her word that stepping down was only a temporary measure. He says that he wasn’t told in advance that he was about to be booted out, nor, obviously, that Camilla would be replacing him. He says that he just heard about it ”in the media”.’
Perhaps, then, it is time for Andrew to deliver a media surprise of his own?
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