The Queen Allegedly Gave Andrew Millions to Settle With Virginia Giuffre — He Hasn't Paid Back
The release of the Epstein files has renewed intense criticism over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's past association with Jeffrey Epstein. Central to the controversy are the allegations first brought by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged the former Prince had indecent relations with her when she was 17. In 2021, she filed a civil lawsuit, which was settled the following year for a reported $16 million. Now, a new report claims that Andrew was loaned the funds by the late Queen Elizabeth, who forked up the money from Prince Philip's estate after his death.
According to The Sun, the Queen reportedly loaned $9.5 million to her disgraced son to settle with Giuffre in 2022, with an additional $4 million drawn from Philip's estate the year after his death. At the time, the then-Prince Charles pitched in around $2 million, while other family members allegedly also contributed to help resolve the lawsuit. Commenting on the events, a source alleged, "Andrew's not paid back a penny." To pay his family back, Mountbatten-Windsor allegedly planned to sell his Swiss ski chalet but reportedly made nothing from the sale.
Weighing in on how the royal family handled the repercussions of the lawsuit, an insider revealed, "Andrew lied to his own family about the extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. They bankrolled his payoff to his accuser, Virginia Giuffre. They bought his lies and helped him try to make the problem go away." Claiming that the late Queen was devastated by her son's actions, they added, "She [Queen] knew this was a problem that his brother Charles would tackle once she was gone — it only pushed the scandal down the road."
Sources also told the outlet that the royals agreed to fund the settlement to allegedly make the scandal go away ahead of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in 2022. An insider stressed, "The money from the royal family bought her silence but denied Virginia her day in court and the chance to openly challenge his account of what happened." On how the late Philip would have reacted knowing the misuse of his estate, they continued, "You can't imagine that the Duke of Edinburgh ever would have expected that his savings would end up being spent on hush money."
In his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, Mountbatten-Windsor insisted that he could not have been with Giuffre, as he was at a Pizza Express party, rather than at Epstein's residence in New York, when the alleged assault happened. He had said, "I was with the children and I'd taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at I suppose sort of four or five in the afternoon." He suggested that Giuffre's photo of them together was tampered with, possibly for financial gain. However, a newly surfaced email reveals he was in New York when she said the alleged encounter occurred.