Queen Elizabeth is financially backing Prince Andrew’s legal battle against sex
Queen Elizabeth is providing financial support to son Prince Andrew behind the scenes in his legal fight against sexual abuse allegations, a new report claims.
The Duke of York, 61, acknowledged this week through his lawyer that he has been served with a lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, an American woman who claims he sexually assaulted her. The acknowledgment was confirmed in a joint agreement signed by a lawyer for the British prince. It was approved by a Manhattan federal judge and entered into the public court record on Tuesday.
News that Her Majesty has allegedly agreed to help pay the fees to fight this in court comes days after Andrew reportedly beefed up his legal team by adding attorney Melissa Lerner to the case alongside his lead counsel Andrew Brettler, according to the U.K.’s The Telegraph.
The outlet reports that Andrew is believed to be charged $2,000 per hour for legal services conducted by Lavely & Singer, the Los Angeles-based law firm representing him.
Queen Elizabeth, 95, allegedly agreed to pay her son’s legal fees back in 2020, shortly after the duke’s disastrous BBC “Newsnight” interview. The interview was widely panned by critics who said Andrew seemed insensitive to Epstein’s victims. Afterward, the prince stepped back from royal duties and has attempted to keep a low profile.
Prince Andrew has been sued for sexual abuse and battery.
(AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)
The Telegraph reports that Her Majesty is using funds from her private Duchy of Lancaster estate. Representatives for the queen and Buckingham Palace, as well as Prince Andrew’s attorneys, did not immediately return Fox News’ requests for comment.
This week’s court papers said that the 61-year-old had been challenging the acceptance of the lawsuit until lawyers spoke by phone on Sept. 21. An agreement was signed three days later, according to the order signed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
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In the lawsuit, Giuffre claims Andrew abused her on multiple occasions in 2001 when she was under 18. His lawyer has called the allegations “baseless.”
A judge must be satisfied that a defendant has been properly notified of the allegations and has a reasonable period of time to respond to them. The prince must file responses to the lawsuit’s claims by Oct. 29. A conference was scheduled for Nov. 3.
Lawyers for Giuffre, 38, had told the judge that they’d delivered the lawsuit to the royal in numerous ways, though never directly into his hands. At one point, Britain’s high court accepted a request from Giuffre’s lawyers to formally contact Andrew about the lawsuit.
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Attorneys for Giuffre previously filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, where Jeffrey Epstein was charged criminally with sex trafficking a month before he killed himself at age 66 in August 2019. At the time, the American financier was in an adjacent federal jail where he was ordered to await trial.
Giuffre has repeatedly made her allegations against Epstein, his onetime…
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