“Woke Royals”

Prince Andrew’s legal team are diving headlong into the mud and planning to paint his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, of being on par with twisted Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The Duke of York will give evidence under oath next month in London as part of the civil sexual assault case against him.

Virginia Giuffre is suing Prince Andrew in the US, and the prince has repeatedly denied the allegations.

He will face a deposition, which means giving evidence to lawyers for use in court.

A date has been set for 10 March in London – which has been described as a neutral location.

Prince Andrew is approaching the toughest legal fight of his life and one thing is sure: it won’t be cheap, whatever the outcome.

The disgraced royal is facing seven-figure legal fees — at least — if Virginia Giuffre’s sexual abuse suit goes to trial, according to two lawyers surveyed by Bloomberg, while the cost of settling is expected to be well in excess of $5 million. With a personal fortune estimated by his private bank at 5 million pounds ($6.8 million) in 2017, funding the fight will be a challenge.

… The prospect of a jury trial follows the prince’s attorney’s decision on Wednesday to file legal papers strongly resisting sexual abuse claims brought against him by his accuser, Virginia Giuffre. In the papers, Andrew’s legal team denied the allegations and then sought to blame Giuffre for being partly responsible for her abuse. That move has been criticized as “cruel” and “inappropriate” by legal experts.

Prince Andrew’s legal team has filed legal papers in which the Royal denied all of Virginia Roberts’ sex abuse allegations as he prepares for a bitter court battle in the United States.

The papers, filed today by Prince Andrew’s legal counsel Andrew Brettler, contained a detail rebuttal of all of Roberts’ claims and also requested that the Royal be granted a trial by jury.

The Duke of York’s official rebuttal comes after a motion to dismiss the case on a legal technicality at the beginning of January was denied, and could see Prince Andrew himself take the stand in New York to argue his case in front of jurors.

You have to wonder at his lawyers.

He thought he knew best in responding to the Epstein scandal — and now he’s paying the price.

Who’d have thought a 95-year-old woman, who’s just lost her husband of seven decades, could be so utterly ruthless? Who could know she’d stand ready to desert her favorite child? And who could imagine that she would put her business — “The Firm,” as she calls it — ahead of her nearest and dearest.

Former Buckingham Palace maid Charlotte Briggs today defended her Prince Andrew revelations and attacked him for being a ‘horrible man.’

Ms Briggs, 47, said she had no regrets about speaking out over the Duke’s ‘demanding and entitled’ foul-mouthed rants, which she claimed left her in tears.

Speaking to MailOnline in her hometown of Halifax, West Yorkshire, she said: ‘I don’t give a toss what Prince Andrew feels… he is a horrible, nasty man.’

He’s an arrogant and entitled plonker. He’s also innocent until proven guilty.

‘With the queen’s approval and agreement’, read Buckingham Palace’s official statement, ‘the Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the queen’. And with that, Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal garb. All the titles, including His Royal Highness, were gone and, according to the statement, never to return.

Prince Andrew fears he could be left “completely broke” after being stripped of his military titles and royal patronages amid his legal battle against Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

The Duke of York is up against mounting legal costs as he fights a sex-assault lawsuit from Giuffre that he worries could leave him penniless, the Daily Mail reported.

“Until very recently it appears the absolute enormity of this case and the consequences he faces has not hit him,” a source told the outlet. “Now the bills are mounting up and the possibility of a settlement, or even worse a judgment against him, is being widely discussed; he fears complete financial ruin. 

This was a ruthless piece of palace politics, distancing the Royal Family from one of its own.

There was no waiting to see if Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, could clear his name in court. He’s already lost the use of his HRH, and his military links have been severed.

“Brutal,” tweeted royal commentator Peter Hunt. “The Windsors have shown that when the institution is under threat, dynastic preservation trumps flesh and blood.”

It could also be seen as inevitable. Rather than facing endless awkward questions about Prince Andrew’s future, Buckingham Palace has made a pre-emptive strike, effectively announcing that he will never return to an official royal role.

Prince Andrew has been left reeling after another disastrous week which saw him stripped him of his military titles and royal patronages less than 24 hours after being told her must face a civil trial.

The move means Andrew has been completely removed from official royal life and he now have to face his future as an ­ordinary citizen.

The scandal-hit Duke of York was informed that he will no longer use the title of His Royal Highness in any official capacity by the Queen on Thursday.

Growing clamour for royal to lose dukedom and taxpayer-funded Scotland Yard security detail

The Duke of York faces calls to pay for his own security and relinquish his dukedom after being stripped of his military affiliations and royal patronages in the fallout over the civil sexual assault case against him.

The calls come as his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, welcomed the New York court ruling that paved the way for her lawsuit against Prince Andrew to proceed to trial, as she pledged to “continue to expose the truth”.

The Queen going “Climate Woke” may have been a calculated move designed to mitigate blowback from Andy and Harry’s escapades.

Prince Andrew faces growing calls for him to lose or relinquish his Duke of York title from those in the city.

The royal, who faces a US civil action over sexual assault allegations, returned his patronages and military titles on Thursday.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell said it was “untenable” for him “to cling on” to his duke title and his association with the city.

Prince Andrew has consistently denied the claims against him.

Lawyers for Prince Andrew’s accuser have asked a judge to unseal documents containing ‘vast swathes of information’ about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘sex trafficking operation.’

Attorneys for Virginia Roberts Giuffre said Judge Loretta Preska should publicly release material from the 2015 civil lawsuit she filed against Maxwell that include references to eight anonymous John Does.

The individuals are identified in court documents only as ‘Non-Parties 17, 53, 54, 55, 56, 73, 93 and 151’. It is not clear if one of them is the Duke of York.

H/T Linda