Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir reveals the late Prince Andrew’s desperation to avoid damaging the late Queen as he sought to settle the civil sexual assault case
William Morgan Reporter and Laura Elston PA Court Correspondent
00:50, 19 Oct 2025Updated 01:08, 19 Oct 2025
Jeffrey Epstein victim and Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre has made explosive claims in a posthumous memoir(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
Prince Andrew demanded his accuser Virginia Giuffre sign a one-year gagging clause to avoid damaging the late Queen’s platinum jubilee, her memoirs have disclosed.
Andrew dramatically surrendered his Duke of York title and remaining honours on Friday evening in a move by the King, in consultation with the Prince of Wales, to draw a line under the protracted scandal.
However, Ms Giuffre’s posthumous book, which is set for release on Tuesday, is shining fresh spotlight on the sexual assault claims and the prince’s association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein that precipitated the royal’s disgrace.
She reveals how Andrew’s catastrophic Newsnight appearance was like an “injection of jet fuel” for her legal team, and it opened up the prospect of “subpoenaing” his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and dragging them into the court battle, The Telegraph reported.
The then-Duke of York, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell (Image: PA Media)
Ms Giuffre claimed she secured “more out of” Andrew than a reported 12-million-dollar settlement and two-million-dollar contribution to her charity because she had “an acknowledgement that I and many other women had been victimised and a tacit pledge to never deny it again”.
The former duke handed over millions to resolve a civil sexual assault lawsuit with Ms Giuffre in 2022, despite maintaining he had never encountered her.
His 2019 Newsnight appearance, which he hoped would vindicate him, spectacularly misfired when he declared he “did not regret” his association with convicted paedophile Epstein, who trafficked Ms Giuffre. He faced fierce criticism for his failure to express compassion towards the sex offender’s victims.
Andrew also claimed he had “no recollection” of ever encountering Ms Giuffre and insisted he could not have engaged in sexual activity with her in March 2001 because he was at Pizza Express with his daughter Beatrice on the date in question.
Recent revelations have raised questions about Prince Andrew’s claims during his disastrous Newsnight interview(Image: PA Media)
Ms Giuffre alleged, which Andrew strenuously denies, that she was coerced into having sex with the prince on three separate occasions, including when she was 17, after being trafficked by Epstein.
Queen Elizabeth II was marking her platinum jubilee in 2022 – the first British monarch to achieve the milestone – as the civil action against her son intensified. The case was resolved just nine days after she reached the 70th anniversary of her accession.
Ms Giuffre, who took her own life in April, disclosed in her book: “I agreed to a one-year gag order, which seemed important to the prince because it ensured that his mother’s platinum jubilee would not be tarnished any more than it already had been.”
In January 2022, a US judge determined the civil action against Andrew could proceed, and the Queen subsequently stripped him of his honorary military positions, with the prince also relinquishing his HRH title.
Disgraced Prince Andrew is no longer the Duke of York(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
In February of that year, court papers revealed Andrew and Ms Giuffre had reached a “settlement in principle” in the civil sex claim. Andrew made a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”, and pledged to “demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein” by supporting the “fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims”, the legal papers revealed.
The agreement prevented a public court case, sparing the monarchy from the scandal of a thorough examination of Ms Giuffre’s allegations during a year when the Queen was gearing up for an extended June weekend of jubilee festivities.
However, there were worries the then-duke was attempting to broker a comeback to public duties when he unexpectedly took centre stage escorting his mother to Prince Philip’s memorial in March 2022, before being asked to the jubilee thanksgiving ceremony.
Ultimately, the Queen’s reportedly beloved son remained out of sight during the jubilee and was absent from the church service, having declared the previous day that he had contracted Covid.
Prince Andrew stayed out of sight during the 2022 jubilee(Image: © 2025 PA Media, All Rights Reserved)
Ms Giuffre, whose memoir is titled Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, penned, according to The Telegraph: “As devastating as this interview was for Prince Andrew, for my legal team it was like an injection of jet fuel.
“Its contents would not only help us build an ironclad case against the prince but also open the door to potentially subpoenaing his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, and their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.”
She also revealed how Andrew had “stonewalled” her legal team for months before settlement discussions began moving swiftly when his deposition was scheduled for March 2022.
Ms Giuffre expressed her disgust at seeing “two of my abusers together” when Andrew was photographed with Epstein in New York in 2011, and she was “amazed” that a member of the Royal family would be “stupid enough” to appear in public with the convicted paedophile.
Andrew, who still holds the title of prince and resides in the expansive Crown Estate property Royal Lodge, stated on Friday that the “continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family”.
He asserted that he was putting his “family and country first” and would cease using “my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me”.