Queen Elizabeth privately spent ‘millions' to fund Prince Andrew’s legal case: Report

UK’s Queen Elizabeth II is privately paying for her son Prince Andrew’s legal battle against sex abuse charges, The Telegraph reported on Friday, 1 October. The Duke of York is being sued for the sexual assault of a minor and has been reportedly getting hefty financial assistance from his mother, the Queen. According to the media outlet, Queen Elizabeth is privately paying Prince Andrew’s legal terms as he has “no discernible income”. 

The Telegraph stated that the Queen’s annual income for her own Duchy of Lancaster estate is being used to pay for the legal fees, which is around $2000 an hour. The whole legal cost is expected to be in the millions, with the civil lawsuit expected to stretch on for months or possibly years. The media outlet suggested that Queen Elizabeth has already spent “millions of pounds” even though the case is just getting started. 

Accusations against Prince Andrew 

Prince Andrew is being sued by Virginia Giuffre who alleges that she was sexually assaulted at 17. Giuffre, who is also an accuser of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, claimed that she was brought to the UK at the age of 17 to have sex with Prince Andrew.

The case alleges that Prince Andrew abused Giuffre at the London home of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and at Epstein's homes in Manhattan and the US Virgin Islands. It also claims that the prince engaged in sexual acts without her consent and also after knowing how old she was and that she was a “sex-trafficking victim”. 

However, Prince Andrew, who is UK’s Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, has denied the claims against him. Prince Andrew's lawyer Andrew Brettler stated at a court hearing that Giuffre's lawsuit is baseless, nonviable and perhaps unconstitutional, according to Sky News. Prince Andrew has disputed all of Giuffre's allegations.

In a written order, Loretta A Preska, District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York stated that the duke has the right to request information about the settlement between Giuffre and Epstein. Now, the next meeting in the case would now be on October 13. 

(Image: AP)