Good morning! There is plenty of commentary this morning about Prince Andrew’s surprise settlement with Virginia Giuffre, as well as developments in the face-off between Russia and Ukraine.
The Duke of York has reached a settlement in the civil sex claim filed by Virginia Giuffre in the US. In the unexpected development, Prince Andrew agreed to make a “substantial donation” to Giuffre’s charity and accepted that she “suffered as an established victim of abuse”. The move is a remarkable turnaround for Andrew, who had pledged to fight to clear his name in court. A document submitted to court on Tuesday said the prince also regretted his association with the financier Jeffrey Epstein, who took his life in prison while facing trial for sex trafficking. The prince “was never going to win”, writes former Guardian royal correspondent Stephen Bates: “And now his stupidity and arrogance have cost him almost everything he values.”
