Virginia Giuffre‘s family have said she has been ‘vindicated’ after Prince Andrew relinquished his royal titles last night, adding that ‘these monsters can’t escape’.
After yet another week of scandal with more details revealed about flights he took on convicted paedophile’s Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Lolita’ private jet, Andrew announced he would stop using all his remaining titles in a shock statement on Friday.
It marks a new low in the long fall from grace suffered by the Prince, following a car crash Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019.
Andrew will no longer be Duke of York, will step down from the Order of the Garter – the UK’s most ancient order of chivalry – and will will also relinquish his position as Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victoria Order.
Relatives of Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions by Epstein when she was just 17, have praised the move and paid tribute to her tireless campaigning for Epstein’s victims.
Speaking to Newsnight last night, Ms Giuffre’s brother Sky Roberts said his sister, who died in April, was a ‘truth teller from the beginning’ – and suggested King Charles should even consider stripping Andrew of the title of ‘Prince’.
He said his sister’s children would be ‘incredibly proud’ of her campaigning, adding: ‘[She] is an American hero, she’s an international hero and all the years of work that she put in is now coming to some sort of justice, and these monsters can’t escape from it. The truth will find it’s way out.’
Mr Roberts said: ‘We have shed a lot of happy and sad tears today. I think happy because in a lot of ways this vindicates Virginia.
Virginia Giuffre’s family have said she has been ‘vindicated’ after Prince Andrew gave up his royal titles last night, adding that ‘these monsters can’t escape’ (Pictured: Virginia Giuffre)
Prince Andrew at the Order of the Garter service in 2019 outside St George’s Chapel in Windsor – he will now relinquish his Knight of the Garter status, as well as the title of Duke of York
Speaking to Newsnight on Friday, Ms Giuffre’s brother Sky Roberts (left, with wife Amanda) said his sister, who died in April, was a ‘truth teller from the beginning’ – and suggested King Charles should even consider stripping Andrew of the title of ‘Prince’
‘She was a truth teller from the beginning. I know at one point she called out that he said some things and I’ve said some things and only one of us is telling the truth, and she was telling the truth.
‘And this is a moment where we feel very proud for her but we’re also sad because she should be sitting here, she should be talking to you on Newsnight tonight but she’s not and so we’re here to advocate for her and her survivor sisters.’
Ms Giuffre took her own life aged just 41 in April.
Her family’s comments come just four days before the publication of an upcoming memoir by Ms Giuffre, that is sure to provide further embarrassment for the former duke.
In it, she said Prince Andrew acted as though having sex with her was his ‘birthright’.
Prince Andrew paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case brought by Ms Giuffre in 2022, despite insisting he had never met her. It is understood the settlement did not involve any admission of wrongdoing.
Questions have dogged Andrew for years over his relationship with convicted paedophile Epstein, and when it ended.
He previously insisted he had cut all ties with Epstein in 2010, but an email has recently emerged from 2011, sent by Andrew, in which he promised they would ‘play more soon’.
Prince Andrew’s statement was released by Buckingham Palace on Friday night
Virginia Giuffre photographed with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in London in 2001
King Charles III is said to be ‘glad’ his brother has given up his titles after discussions with Andrew and his son, Prince William
Prince Andrew and King Charles were last pictured together at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral last month
Grasping. Entitled. Sleazy. Ignorant. But that wasn’t Andrew’s biggest problem, writes RICHARD KAY
Writing to Epstein on February 28, 2011 – the day after the Mail published the now infamous picture of him with his arm around a teenage Virginia Giuffre – Andrew said: ‘I’m just as concerned for you! Don’t worry about me!
‘It would seem we are in this together and will have to rise above it. Otherwise keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!’
Andrew signed off his email with: ‘A, HRH The Duke of York, KG’.
He has now relinquished the Duke of York and Knight of the Garter (KG) titles. The Prince stopped using his ‘HRH’ signoff after stepping back from royal duties in 2022.
Asked how Ms Giuffre would have felt about Andrew giving up his titles, an emotional Mr Roberts said: ‘She’s with us right now, she’s smiling. She would be very proud of her survivor sisters.’
‘I think it’s so important for the world to know how much of a hero she was, but how much is still left that the stone is still left unturned to some degree,’ he continued.
‘This is just one step of many.’
He added the family would ‘welcome any contact from the King’ or MPs and would be keen to ‘have conversations to present the evidence that we believe is available to continue her voice.’
Speaking on Newsnight, fellow Epstein survivor Hayley Robson (pictured) described Andrew’s announcement as ‘extremely bittersweet’
A new memoir by Ms Giuffre is set to be released next week and is sure to provide further embarrassment for the prince
He added: ‘We would call on the King to go ahead and potentially take out the prince in the Andrew.’
Speaking on Newsnight, fellow Epstein survivor Hayley Robson described Andrew’s announcement as ‘extremely bittersweet’.
She said: ‘I do believe this is a little bit of accountability, I do think it is a little delayed but we will take a win because a win is a win.
‘And for the King to come to Andrew in such a way and have a conversation… this is why King Charles is King. He is showing the world, including America, what it looks like to have somebody held accountable. Even if it looks like this.’
She continued: ‘My message to King Charles would be bravo, thank you for standing up to the system, to the abusers, thank you for putting your people first… kudos to King Charles.’
On Friday, the former duke released a statement about relinquishing his titles and reiterated his claim of innocence, saying: ‘As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.
‘In discussion with the King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.’
It was reported on Saturday that King Charles is ‘glad’ his brother has agreed to relinquish the titles, after being in ‘close consultation’ with him and his son, Prince William, over the decision.
It comes after a week of scandal which saw the announcement of Virginia Giuffre’s memoir, further documents linking Andrew to Epstein being released and the prince being dragged into the China spy affair.
‘Something had to be done,’ a source said.
Andrew faced renewed backlash after appearing in the latest documents tied to Epstein’s estate, published by the US House Oversight Committee on Friday.
It has been suggested that pressure on Prince Andrew to relinquish his titles came from Prince William (pictured) and members of government
Prince Andrew’s fall from grace has hinged on his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein (pictured, with Ghislaine Maxwell)
Andrew previously said he had severed all ties with Epstein (pictured) in 2010, but emails from 2011 have since suggested that not to be the case
Prince Andrew gives up all of his titles as he’s banished from royal life after scandals
Prince Andrew flew on paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein‘s private jet at least four times, flight logs seen for the first time revealed.
The disgraced royal is listed on the flight logs as having flown from Luton to Edinburgh on September 1, 2006, with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
Two further flight logs from 1999 also display the name ‘Prince Andrew’, alongside royal protection officer Steve Burgess.
Meanwhile, it emerged last month that Andrew was a passenger on a flight on May 12, 2000, alongside Epstein, Maxwell and celebrity chef Adam Perry Lang.
Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial previously brought Andrew’s name into the spotlight by naming him as a passenger on Epstein’s jet – with one of the disgraced British socialite’s accusers saying she also flew with the prince in the mid-1990s.
One of the jet’s pilots, Larry Visoski, told the trial that Andrew flew on the aircraft – dubbed the Lolita Express – a ‘number of times’.
The latest flight logs surfaced last night after the US House Oversight Committee published hundreds of further documents from Epstein’s estate.
The documents also appeared to show that Epstein kept tabs on news stories suggesting Prince Andrew was at risk of being brought into the scandal.
The paedophile was sent a Sunday Times story headlined ‘Lawyers drag prince into underage sex scandal’ in 2011. The article included reports that a Russian model who worked with Andrew was questioned under oath about whether he was involved with underage girls.
It is understood that she refused to answer and there is no suggestion that Andrew did part in such activity.
Flight records show Prince Andrew confirmed as a passenger on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet
He is said to have flown on the private jet, dubbed the ‘Lolita Express’, multiple times in the 1990s and early 2000s
Royal historian claims decision to remove former Duke of his titles ‘came from Prince William’
And further embarrassment came from Andrew this week after it was revealed he met with the ‘spymaster’ at the heart of the collapsed China spy case at least three times.
Andrew, already mired in controversy over his friendship with another alleged Beijing spy, forged links with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mandarin Cai Qi, with the pair posing as they celebrated ‘jointly building a golden era in China-UK relations’.
Prosecutors now believe Cai was presiding over a massive intelligence-gathering operation to steal British secrets, overseeing the alleged activities of parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and China-based English teacher Christopher Berry.
Both men have denied any wrongdoing and the case against them collapsed on the eve of trial last month after the Government refused to label China an ‘enemy’.
It is understood that amidst all the scandal clouding Andrew, it was his nephew Prince William and members of government who led the pressure for him to take yet another step back from the monarchy.
Royal historian Andrew Lownie, who published an unauthorised biography of Prince Andrew in August called ‘Entitled’, revealed tonight that he believes the decision came from an unexpected source – the throne’s heir, Prince William.
Speaking to the BBC, Lownie said: ‘Andrew certainly hasn’t driven it [the decision to give up his titles].
‘I mean, if he was thinking of his family, as he claims, he would have done something like this many years ago. It’s not really coming from King Charles either.
‘It’s coming from William and the government I understand who felt that this was a distraction from the wider work of the royal family.’
After the announcement was made, there was relief in York as local politicians called for Andrew’s titles to be legally stripped.
York Central MP Rachael Maskell said: ‘I have long called for the title of the Duke of York to be removed in the light that it carries an ambassadorial association with our city.’
She added: ‘Having sought to change the law through my Removal of Titles Bill, I now think it is time for this legislation, which provides the King new powers to be able to remove titles or for a grand committee of both Houses of Parliament to make a recommendation to the King to remove a title.’
Although Andrew is relinquishing his dukedom, he technically retains it and it can only be removed by an Act of Parliament.
City Cllr Darryl Smalley added the move was a ‘long time coming’.
He said: ‘We’d obviously lobbied quite hard and sent several letters to the palace and to Prince Andrew himself, all of which via recorded post and none of which was answered, but obviously a few years later the pressure has meant that the palace has had to act.
‘It’s obviously a long time coming but finally they recognised what a massive liability he is.’
The titles and honours he will no longer use include his wedding day titles – The Duke of York, the Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, his knighthood as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) and his Garter role as a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
Sarah Ferguson will also relinquish her title as the Duchess of York.
The prince stepped down from public life in 2019 following a Newsnight interview where he said he ‘did not regret’ his friendship with Epstein.
He was later stripped of his military patronages by the late Queen, and stopped using his HRH title.
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