SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Hannah Furness
The death of Virginia Giuffre brings to a tragic close the most unedifying and damaging royal scandal in living memory.
Giuffre, who has died by suicide at her farm in Australia, will be remembered as the determined survivor of sex trafficking and abuse who helped to catalyse the downfall of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and, in the court of public opinion, the Duke of York.
Virginia Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen, when she said she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, among others.Credit: TNS via Getty Images
She was a “fierce warrior”, her family said in a statement, and “will always be remembered for her incredible courage”.
Her tenacity in pursuing the Duke, whom she accused of sexually assaulting or raping her when she was 17 after she was allegedly trafficked to London, led to him “stepping back” from public life in 2019 – and to his failure to return to it since.
Prince Andrew has always denied wrongdoing, and the claims have never been tested in court. He has never been arrested.
In 2022, Giuffre agreed to an out-of-court settlement with Prince Andrew, understood to be worth millions of dollars, but with no admission of liability.
In a now-notorious interview on the BBC’s Newsnight, the Duke insisted that he had “no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever”.
His alibis and excuses, of being at Pizza Express in Woking and being unable to sweat, resulted in nationwide ridicule, while he was heavily criticised for his lack of clearly stated regret for his involvement with Epstein, or sympathy for survivors of abuse.
The association with the Epstein scandal had tainted Prince Andrew’s life since at least 2010, when he was photographed walking with Epstein in Central Park, New York, even after the latter’s release from prison for pleading guilty to prostituting minors.
In 2015, specific accusations relating to Prince Andrew emerged in court documents, with a grim legal back-and-forth lasting years, amid growing calls for him to be interviewed by police and in open court.
Prince Andrew with Virginia Giuffre in 2001, and Ghislaine Maxwell.
The last-ditch settlement, said to have been encouraged by Queen Elizabeth II and advisers who did not want the spectacle of a prince giving evidence – or lack of it – under oath, brought both relief and frustration.
“We hail Virginia’s victory today,” Lisa Bloom, an attorney representing eight victims of Epstein, said at the time. “She has accomplished what no one else could: getting Prince Andrew to stop his nonsense and side with sexual abuse victims.”
He did, indeed, fall quiet.
At Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew retired, for a while, to a life without purpose: seen only out riding, visiting his elderly mother while she was still alive, and spending time with his former wife, daughters and grandchildren.
Prince Andrew leaves the Easter Matins Service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor last week.Credit: AP
In the early 2020s, after the Newsnight interview, there were hopes from his few remaining allies that he would somehow make a return to public life.
Some held out hope that Ms Guiffre would eventually be discredited in her lifetime, and her account dismissed with time.
His brother the King has lost patience with his dogged determination to stay at Royal Lodge, cutting off his formerly extensive funding. The Prince of Wales, the future King, will not countenance a return to duty for his uncle in his reign.
The death of Giuffre will weigh heavily on all involved in this most shameful of episodes: much wider and more serious than unproven accusations against one prince, but linked to him for life nonetheless.
The Duke of York after the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla in 2023.Credit: AP
“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight,” her family said on Saturday.
The Duke, 65, has not commented on the news and is unlikely to do so.
The death of Virginia Giuffre draws the most tragic of lines under a period of his life he hoped would end in redemption, and now will not.
The Telegraph, London
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