The end of Prince Andrew: as Queen Elizabeth helps pay a multi-million dollar secret settlement, the duke’s reputation is left in ruins and his royal career officially over

Feb 17 , 2022

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, attend church in Sandringham in January 2020. Photo: Getty Images

Paying off his accuser Virginia Giuffre has ended the US legal battle and saved him from court – but the former helicopter hero will struggle to repair his reputation

The ‘favourite son’ of Queen Elizabeth was stripped of his titles and has not been seen since the bizarre BBC interview where he denied the charges against him but faced public ridicule

Prince Andrew’s out of court settlement with his sexual assault accuser halts the highly damaging US legal battle, but effectively ends the royal career of Queen Elizabeth’s second, and reportedly favourite, son.

Virginia Giuffre holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court following jailhouse death of Jeffrey Epstein in August 2019. Photo: AP

The 61-year-old prince has become a virtual recluse since a disastrous televised attempt in 2019 to defend himself from the allegations by Virginia Giuffre as well as his associations with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Humiliatingly stripped of his honorary military titles and charitable roles last month amid the US civil case – even losing the “His Royal Highness” title he was given at birth – he has been left with no official public role.

Newspapers display front page headlines and stories of Britain’s Prince Andrew after his titles were removed by his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in January. Photo: EPA

Businesses and charities had already distanced themselves from his projects while he had stepped back from frontline royal duties in 2019.

Fired by his own mother

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Andrew, Duke of York watch a fly-past from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour, the queen’s annual birthday parade, in June 2019. Photo: Getty Images

However, the monarchy’s removal of his titles in January was the clearest indication yet that it sees links to Andrew, the Duke of York, as permanently damaging to the centuries-old institution.

Settling the US lawsuit now for an unspecified sum is unlikely to change that view or improve his heavily tarnished reputation.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York leave Crathie Kirk, after a Sunday morning church service, in Crathie, Scotland, in August 2019. Photo: AP

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