From Prince Charles' affair to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's step back from the Royal family, the Firm has faced plenty of controversy over the years but arguably none so damning as the Prince Andrew sex assault claims.
When stories resurfaced of Prince Andrew's friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the royal decided there was only one way to clear up rumours and agreed to an interview with BBC Newsnight journalist Emily Maitlis. He was accused of having sex with Virginia Giuffre, then 17, who claimed she was trafficked by businessman Epstein and passed between his friends for sex. Andrew firmly denied the allegations. However, the sit-down chat was widely dubbed a car crash and led to him retreating from public life.
In 2014, court papers alleged Prince Andrew was one of several prominent figures to have participated in sexual activities with a girl under 18, later identified as Ms Giuffre. Prince Andrew, however, claimed he had no recollection of ever meeting her and insisted a photograph in which he appears to have his arm wrapped around her waist was fake.
(left-right) the Duke of York, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell. (PA)
The Duke of York after attending the Christmas Day morning church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk in 2022 (PA)Epstein committed suicide in his prison cell in 2019. In January 2022, Andrew was stripped of his royal titles, and a month later, he settled the civil sexual assault case brought against him in the US by Ms Guiffre for a reported £12million. The settlement contained contained no admission of liability, guilt or wrongdoing on Prince Andrew's part. The late Queen Elizabeth II supported her eldest son but had just a one-word response to Prince Andrew's side of the story, according to the royal family's close friend and biographer Gyles Brandreth.
According to an extract from the book, the late Queen 'listened carefully' to her son's full account of the sorry saga and responded with just one word: 'Intriguing'. Relaying a conversation he had with a senior courtier about the controversy, he said: "There was a lot of nonsense talked about no one being at the helm, but the Queen took a firm grip of things."
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As revealed by The Mirror, the Queen agreed to help Prince Andrew settle his civil sex case by personally making a £2million donation to Virginia Giuffre's charity. Under the terms of the £2m deal arranged by the Queen's most senior advisors and the Duke of York's legal team, the Queen agreed to help Andrew as long as she was not connected to any personal payment to Ms Giuffre, it is understood.
A royal source said: "She could not be seen to be making a payment to a victim of sexual assault, who accused her son of being an abuser. But a deal was structured in such a way to arrange a sizeable financial contribution to the settlement by way of a charitable donation instead."
Despite her one worded response, the Queen showed her support for her son by taking him riding with her through Windsor Great Park in the rain just a few days after he quit public duties while photographers were on hand to document it. Then on January 13, Buckingham Palace issued a statement: "With The Queen's approval and agreement, The Duke of York's military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen."
Rufus Sewell, best known for his role in 'The Holiday' will place Andrew in Scoop coming to Netflix on April 5.
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