Prince Andrew of the British Royal family has been sued on matters of sexual abuse at a federal court in New York. The lawsuit was filed by one of the alleged victims Jefferey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in a New York prison two years ago. In the lawsuit, the defendant Virginia Roberts Giuffre accused the prince of abusing her sexually when she was 16 years old, below the age of consent. The sexual abuse act was said to have taken place at a Manhattan Mansion that belonged to Jeffrey Epstein. 

Jeffrey Epstein was a renowned American socialite and political financier. In 2008, he was convicted for solicitation of prostitution involving a minor and subsequently served 13 months in prison after which he was really. He registered as a sex offender. The case was revisited in 2019 with Epstein re-arrested and refused bail. He later died in police custody while awaiting trial. The death was ruled a suicide by investigators. 

The timing of the lawsuit filed against Prince Andrew, the second son of her majesty, the queen of England is important. It would have been impossible to file the lawsuit if it was not done at this time due to statute of limitations laws in New York. The plaintiff and her lawyer claimed that they were left with no other choice than to sue after repeated attempts to settle out of court with the Duke of York yielded no result.    

Virginia Giuffre is one of the alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein. The claim is that Jeffrey repeatedly assaulted her sexually when she was still a child and also trafficked her out to be abused by other powerful men one of whom is the British royal. According to her lawyer, power and wealth should not absolve anybody of accountability for their actions. The lawsuit is looking to make sure that rich and powerful people do not get away with bad and criminal behavior without facing any consequences for their actions. 

Since Prince Andrew and his legal team refused to respond to several requests from the plaintiff for an out-of-court settlement, the lawsuit is now seeking compensations and damages for the assault and mental distress caused by the actions of the prince. Virginia whose sworn affidavit contributed to the arrest of Epstein claimed that she was kept as an underage sex slave for four years. During this period, she claimed she was forced into sexual and erotic relations including an orgy with the prince. There is no justification to force minors into erotic and relaxing relations when tantric massage in Covent Garden exists. 

This is not the first time the allegation of sexual abuse was levied against the 61 years old British prince. The allegations first came to light during the series of affidavits by victims of Jefferey Epstein in a bid to overturned what they considered a lenient verdict granted to the socialite when he was initially convicted in 2008. The affidavit was part of the court filings from 2014 in a case by the victims of Epstein against the United States department of justice. In the filings, Virginia alleged that he met with the prince three times at the behest of Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell. She claimed to have been directed to have sexual contact with the prince and do all his bidding.  

The prince vehemently denied the allegations at the time, more than five years ago. A statement put out by Buckingham palace described the allegations as false and lacking any foundation. The public scrutiny on prince Andrew due to his relationship with Epstein dates back to almost 10 years. Although the two are believed to have met around 1999, the prince became actively engulfed in the controversy that defined Epstein’s life when they both photographed together in 2010. This was after Epstein has been convicted of charges bordering on trafficking children for sexual abuse purposes and he had registered as a sex offender.   

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One of the supposedly irrefutable proofs brought forward by Virginia against the prince is a widely circulated photograph. In the photograph, the prince’s arm appears to sit on the waist of Virginia who at the time was 17 years old. However, in a television interview with the BBC, he debunked any knowledge of knowing or meeting the girl. He also maintained that the photograph in circulation, allegedly captured by Epstein is not authentic. After saying that there is no way of proofing the authenticity of the photograph because it is a photograph of another photograph, he went further to deny having a recollection of any such photograph of him being taken. 

The new round of allegations and court filings on this matter has once again thrust the British royal familiar to intense media scrutiny and commentary. You will recall that there has been a lot of media attention to the inner workings of one of the oldest and most enduring monarchies in the world following the interviews of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The revelations of Meghan about the manner in which she was treated after the birth of her first child had sent shock waves to the world. A lot of people were accusing the British monarchy of racism in the light of what transpired with Meghan and Archie. The Palace is still grabbling with the aftermaths of those interviews when news of the court filings against prince Andrew broke. 

Although prince Andrew has vehemently denied the allegations leveled against him for the umpteenth time, the denials have done very little in dousing the stoked fire of criticism against the monarchy. Subsequently, Buckingham Palace has dropped the prince from participating in official royal duties since Epstein was rearrested in 2019 and the prince has been embroiled in all these emerging controversies. One wonders whether dropping the prince is enough to stem the tide of criticisms surrounding the monarchy. The tantric massage Covent Garden prevents embarrassing situations like this. 

The real victim here though is Virginia and we all await with bated breaths to see what the federal court in New York will uncover as they begin what looks like a long road to uncovering the truths behind the allegations.