A timeline of Prince Andrew
(Picture: ES)Finally, some resolve. Prince Andrew’s involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell saga has been going on for years now. His friendship with the disgraced financier began more than two decades ago in 1999 and his alleged sexual assault of then-minor Virginia Giuffre first emerged in 2015.
The prince, 61, continues to deny any wrongdoing or meeting Giuffre, but this week - just weeks after being stripped of his royal titles by the Queen - he made his first steps towards settling the case for good.
In a surprising update, the Duke of York reportedly brought the case to an end by reaching a confidential out-of-court settlement with Giuffre believed to be as much as £10 million. He is also reported to have paid a “substantial donation” to her charity for victims’ rights - a move that will be sure to delight the royal family who had been putting increasing pressure on the duke to reach some kind of resolve, according to experts.
Despite the Queen being expected to foot part of the bill her son is paying to Giuffre, insiders say the payout “is worth its weight in gold to the Queen as she celebrates her Platinum Jubilee” after rising concerns that her son’s case would overshadow the celebrations.
So what now? It was just last month that the Queen stripped her third child — and the one rumoured to be her “favourite son” — of his royal titles and HRH status after his attempts to throw out Giuffre’s lawsuit were rejected by a US judge. He is now facing fresh calls to be stripped of his Duke of York title, too. It’s been quite the fall from grace for a man who was once second-in-line to the throne.
We all remember that car-crash interview with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in 2019, when the Duke of York claimed he was physically unable to sweat and couldn’t have had sex with Giuffre because he was at Pizza Express in Woking. But beyond that the timeline gets hazy. When did the prince step down from public duties? At what point was that now-famous photo of Andrew and Epstein in New York taken? And when did the Giuffre assault at the centre of all of this allegedly take place?
From his divorce from Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York to the latest update in the Giuffre lawsuit, this is how Andrew plunged from party prince to “disappear[ing] from sight” in royal circles altogether.
1986: Andrew marries Sarah Ferguson
The prince - then a trained Royal Navy pilot and Falklands war veteran - marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in 1986, gaining them the titles of the Duke and Duchess of York. They go on to have two children, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
1996: Andrew and Ferguson divorce
After four years separated, the Duke and Duchess divorce in 1996. They remain close friends.
1999: Andrew is reportedly introduced to Epstein
According to reports, it was 1999 when the prince first met the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, then an investment banker and financier. They are understood to have met through socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, a mutual friend and at one time Epstein’s girlfriend, who the prince has since said he has known “since she was at university in the UK”.
Photos revealed at Maxwell’s trial last year show her and Epstein at the Queen’s Balmoral residence that same year.
2000: Andrew, Epstein and Maxwell are spotted at Mar-a-Lago and Sandringham
The following year, the prince is seen at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida with Epstein and Maxwell.
Later that year, Epstein and Maxwell reportedly attend a joint birthday party at Windsor Castle to mark four royal birthdays, including Andrew’s 40th, hosted by the Queen. Andrew also hosts a shooting weekend - since referred to as a “straightforward shooting weekend” - for Maxwell’s birthday at the Queen’s Sandringham estate.
That same year, Virginia Giuffre (then Virginia Roberts), who says she suffered sexual abuse by a family friend as a child, alleges she was approached by Maxwell to train as a masseuse, before being trafficked.
March 2001: Andrew reportedly sexually assaults Virginia Giuffre in London, New York and the Caribbean
According to Giuffre, it is March 2001 when the prince sexually assaults her - at Maxwell’s home in Belgravia, after a visit to Tramp nightclub in Mayfair on March 10.
Giuffre claims she was assaulted by the prince in two other locations that year: at Epstein’s townhouse in New York and at an “orgy” at Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean. She is 17 at the time. Andrew vehemently denies these claims.
During that same period, Giuffre is pictured with the prince and Maxwell in an image that has now been widely circulated across the world.
July 2001: The government appoints Andrew as trade envoy
Following his retirement as a commander in the Royal Navy, the prince is appointed as special representative for international trade and investment by the British government, representing the country at around the world.
2008: Epstein is convicted and sent to jail
Epstein is convicted of paedophilia after admitting to having prostituted minors as young as 14. He is sentenced to 18 months in jail and serves 13.
December 2010: Andrew visits Epstein after his release from prison
Two years later, that now-famous photo: the prince walking through New York’s Central Park with a newly-freed Epstein - a conversation the prince now claims was to cut ties with the disgraced financier.
Epstein had just been released from prison for sexual offences and Andrew had flown out to see him in the US. Footage later emerges of Andrew inside Epstein’s house in Manhattan on December 6, waving a woman goodbye.
July 2011: Andrew quits his trade envoy role
Andrew quits his government role after a backlash to his visit to Epstein in New York. The Duchess of York admits she accepted money from Epstein to pay off debts.
April 2015: Allegations that Andrew had sex with Giuffre emerge in court documents
Court documents in Florida relating to Epstein’s case allege that Virginia Giuffre was forced to have sex with the prince when she was 17 — below the age of consent under Florida law.
Buckingham Palace denies the allegations, saying in a statement: “It is emphatically denied that The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”
August 2019: Epstein is found dead
After being re-arrested and charged with sex trafficking girls as young as 14, Epstein is found dead in his jail cell.
November 2019: Andrew steps back from public duties after car-crash BBC interview
Andrew agrees to an interview with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis, telling her he could not have had sex with Giuffre because he was at home after a trip to Pizza Express in Woking. He also claims he has “no recollection of ever meeting this lady” and that her description of him “sweating profusely” as he danced with her before they had sex cannot be true because it is almost impossible for him to sweat due to an “overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands war”.
The interview is widely deemed to be a car-crash and the prince steps back from public duties “for the foreseeable future”. At this point, he reportedly remains close to the Queen.
December 2021: Maxwell is convicted of recruiting and grooming teenage girls
Maxwell is convicted of sex trafficking and related charges for bringing girls as young as 14 to Epstein for him to abuse. She is found guilty on five of six charges for her involvement in Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls.
Prosecutors say she “preyed on vulnerable young girls, manipulated them and served them up to be sexually abused.”
January 12, 2022: A judge rejects Andrew’s attempts to throw out Giuffre’s lawsuit
A New York judge rules that a lawsuit filed against Andrew by Virginia Giuffre can move forward, rejecting his attempts to have it dismissed.
He now faces two choices: attempt to clear his name in a high-profile trial or attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre, which reports say could cost him millions of dollars.
January 13, 2022: Andrew is stripped of his royal titles and military affiliations
The Queen goes into damage control mode, stripping her son of all his royal titles, including the use of HRH, and military affiliations. She will redistribute his patronages across the royal family.
Sources say the prince will “disappear from sight” and will not be present at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations this year.
February 16, 2022: Andrew agrees an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre, effectively bringing the case to a close
News drops that Andrew has reached a “settlement in principle” with Giuffre in the civil sex claim filed in the US - a decision believed to have been the result of pressure from his brother, Prince Charles, to avoid lasting damage to the monarchy.
The Prince of Wales, supported by the Queen, reportedly made it clear to his younger brother that for the sake of the institution they serve he had to settle with his accuser before it went to court. It means there will be no civil trial, and Andrew will not have to give evidence under oath or in front of a jury.
In a letter to the United States District Court on Tuesday, Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies wrote - along with Andrew’s lawyers - to say the parties had “reached a settlement in principle”.
The duke will make a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”, court documents revealed. Rumours suggest this donation figure could be as high as £7.5 million and the Queen is expected to be footing part of this bill given that her son’s modest pension from his time in the Navy is believed to be his only visible form of income.
Andrew has also pledged to “demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein” by supporting the “fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.”
So what now for his position in the royal family? Leaders including Labour MP for York Rachael Maskell have now called for Andrew to be stripped of his Duke of York title and royal reporters say he is expected to attend the service of thanksgiving for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey on March 29 alongside the Queen, Charles and other members of the royal family.
But he is not expected to take part in any further public events or celebrations to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. What happens after that remains to be seen.
