The London Sunday Times has a story that at last explains why Andrew’s statements on his scandals over the years have never acknowledged the pain and suffering of victims of sexual abuse.
He took them out.
A source described as a “friend of the King and Queen” tells the paper that “in all previous statements issued by the Palace since Andrew’s disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019, each time courtiers drafted in references to the victims they were removed” after they went to Andrew for sign-off.
The friend said: “There has long been a sense from the family that the voices of the victims needed to be heard in these pronouncements, because they feature so heavily in this saga and because there is no credible way the Queen (Camilla) and the Duchess of Edinburgh (Sophie) can continue to do the work they do in the areas of sexual abuse if they can’t point to that.”
Sources told the Sunday Times that Camilla has read “coverage of Giuffre’s book, Nobody’s Girl.”
The victims were acknowledged in the statement issued Thursday: “Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”
The Royalist is also delighted to see that the Sunday Times’ sources have confirmed what our own sources told us this week: that far from the de-princing of Andrew being Charles’ cunning plan all along, the king very much hoped that getting Andrew to renounce his Duke of York title two weeks ago was going to be the end of the story.
A source is cited as saying, “They got it wrong first time. They’ve got it right now.”
Just to be clear, then, the palace was indeed talking nonsense, as the Royalist’s sources said, in its briefing document issued to members of the media. This document stated that taking away the Duke of York title was just a first step, and that “a longer term resolution to all the aligned issues was always going to take a little longer to enact, due to the complexities of the legal and constitutional position, but the necessity of further action was never in doubt.”
The Sunday Times’ royal editor Roya Nikkhah pours scorn on the palace’s claim that Charles “was always going to choose the nuclear option of formally stripping Andrew of his baubles and evicting him from Royal Lodge, and was just biding his time to get his legal and constitutional ducks in a row.”
Intriguingly, she highlights a public heckle at Lichfield Cathedral as being a factor in Charles pushing the button, with a source saying: “What’s changed in two weeks is the King and Queen have been out taking the temperature of the public — they’re doing national surveys at every engagement. They have felt the public anger and they have acted.”
A former courtier is quoted as saying: “Of all members of the royal family, he was the most loathed by the household, so there are not many people sobbing in their cornflakes.”
Virginia Giuffre lied about Me, Epstein victim says
Also in the news is Rina Oh, a New Jersey-based artist who was involved with Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s. She is continuing a legal action against the estate of Virginia Giuffre, accusing her fellow survivor of inventing and distorting events in her published accounts.
Now in her mid-forties, Oh met Epstein when she was a 21-year-old art student in New York, and says he drew her into what he called a “harem,” paying for her education while coercing her into sexual encounters. She describes him as a manipulative serial abuser who degradingly controlled a hierarchy of young women through money, favors, and education.
She first encountered Giuffre in 2000, during a Florida trip where she saw girls being brought to Epstein’s Palm Beach home. Oh says she never met Prince Andrew.
The dispute between the women began in 2019 when unsealed court documents included passages from Giuffre’s unpublished memoir The Billionaire’s Playboy Club, which described a character called “Rena” as a violent dominatrix who assaulted Giuffre. Oh insists those accounts are fabricated, saying the only thing Giuffre recounts accurately is that she once took her shopping.
Oh, who received compensation from an Epstein victims’ fund, sued Giuffre in 2021 for defamation and later filed a sexual assault claim under New York’s Adult Survivors Act. Oh alleged that she herself was assaulted by Giuffre during their final meeting at Epstein’s New York townhouse. Giuffre counter-sued, denying wrongdoing and saying Oh acted willingly as Epstein’s girlfriend.
The cases were still active earlier this year. A New York judge had allowed Oh’s sexual-assault claim to proceed shortly before Giuffre died by suicide in April. Proceedings are paused until a trustee representing Giuffre’s estate is appointed. Lawyers for Giuffre maintain she was sexually abused by Oh and intend to seek dismissal.
Oh says she is pursuing the case to clear her name, arguing that Giuffre’s allegations turned other survivors against her and damaged her family. While acknowledging Giuffre as a victim of Epstein’s network, she says recent events have raised broader questions about the accuracy of Giuffre’s wider claims.
Oh told the Sunday Times she met Giuffre in 2023 and recalls her becoming extremely angry.
Oh said, “People don’t understand that Virginia was a bully. She created this entire survivor sisters group, it was like a clique of girls that were part of her sisterhood and anyone she didn’t like was excluded.”
She added, “I absolutely think she was a victim. She began her life in a very tragic way. There are a lot of people who failed her. But eventually Virginia became a victimizer and her morals were twisted. I think she had a hard time distinguishing right from wrong.”
She says: “I know she was trafficked. But knowing that my story was fabricated, I’m not sure how credible she is.”
In 2019, Giuffre publicly recanted claims she had been abused by Alan Dershowitz, saying she was “mistaken.”
William tries to keep calm and carry on
Prince William moved into his new home, Forest Lodge, this week, and heads to Brazil on Monday for a series of engagements linked to his Earthshot environmental prize in Rio de Janeiro. This will be followed by a keynote address at the COP30 climate summit in Belém alongside Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Palace aides hope the trip’s focus on climate leadership is not eclipsed by the ongoing fallout from Prince Andrew’s removal from public life.
The Brazil visit will be the first time William has formally represented both King Charles and the U.K. government at a COP conference.
Meanwhile, the king and queen will continue a full slate of domestic engagements, while Princess Anne departs on official duties to Australia and Singapore, all part of a visible effort to project stability and a commitment to service amid unprecedented turbulence.
Abu Dhabi do
Prince Andrew’s fabulous secret £10 million villa in Abu Dhabi is pictured in The Mail on Sunday.
The villa is owned by the UAE’s ruling family.
The waterfront home, situated on a fortified estate beside the Emirati navy headquarters, has been made available to Andrew, 65, by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a friend from their school days at Gordonstoun. The Sheikh reportedly ordered a refurbishment of the residence for Andrew following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The six-bedroom property includes a home cinema, indoor plunge pool, gym and a large, fully staffed kitchen with gold-finished fittings.
Royal biographer Andrew Lownie first identified the property, stating that it would offer Andrew privacy and a more sympathetic environment, and suggested that Andrew could divide his time between Britain and the Gulf.
Andrew began visiting Abu Dhabi frequently while serving as the U.K.’s special representative for international trade. He stepped down from this post in 2011 over his friendship with Epstein. The villa has previously been used by Andrew and his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
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The post Prince Andrew Callously Removed References to Jeffrey Epstein’s Victims appeared first on The Daily Beast.
