We heard this week that Prince Andrew is suddenly “open” to settling out of court with Virginia Giuffre. Shockingly, his openness comes right as Judge Kaplan is likely to rule that Virginia’s lawsuit can proceed to trial, and that Andrew must provide evidence to the court about some of his various claims, like the “no sweating” thing and the “Woking Pizza Express” thing. While I didn’t get into this issue this week, I presumed – as we all did – that any conversation about a potential settlement means that the Queen will be the one who pays. It’s long been known and reported that Queen Elizabeth is paying Andrew’s legal bills, likely from her Duchy of Lancaster funds. Andrew’s legal bills alone could be seven-figures. God knows how much Virginia will get if she settles. Still, after months of reports about how the Queen is paying Andrew’s bills, suddenly the Daily Mail has a curious story about how Andrew is desperate to sell his Swiss chalet so he can pay his own way? Hm.
Prince Andrew is reportedly trying to force through the sale of his £17million Swiss ski chalet to help foot the bill for his spiralling legal costs as he fights sexual abuse allegations made by Virginia Roberts. According to The Mirror, the Duke of York is attempting to speed up the sale of the luxurious property because his mother the Queen will not pay his lawyers’ fees.
Andrew bought the seven-bedroom Chalet Helora, in the luxury Swiss resort of Verbier with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson in 2014 for £16.6million. It emerged last year that Andrew was selling the property. The Duke is needing to find the funds to pay his team of US lawyers as they battle the claims made by Ms Roberts.
If the case does go to trial and Andrew loses, Ms Roberts could be awarded a settlement which legal experts have predicted could be as much as £3million. It emerged this week that Prince Andrew could settle out of court with Ms Roberts to avoid the case going to trial.
Speaking of the alleged speeding up of the sale of his chalet, a source told The Mirror: ‘It is crunch time for Andrew on several fronts. He is meeting all the costs himself so he needs to raise cash fast to pay bills which are increasing by the day. If there was the potential to settle, well, that is an option, but it is in no doubt that the Queen would not assist him in doing so.’
The newspaper also claimed that the Queen will not help Andrew pay for any future financial settlement which may be paid to Ms Roberts.
[From The Daily Mail]
Lies, damned lies. The Queen has already funded Andrew’s lifestyle and legal bills thus far. Of course she’s still paying, and of course she’s the one who would likely give him the money for any settlement. This is what’s known as closing the barn doors after the horses have bolted. For years, the palace didn’t care who knew that the Queen was paying her favorite child’s legal bills. Now that sh-t is getting real, suddenly the courtiers – and perhaps Andrew – realize that the Queen is about to go down with the HMS York. As for the stuff about the Verbier chalet… that sh-t was always sketchy. We learned last fall that Andrew was hellbent on selling the chalet to pay his own substantial debt (separate from his legal bills) and it’s crazy that they haven’t found a buyer yet. Very weird. Anyway, I can feel the panic coming out of Buckingham Palace. Oh well, you bitches f–ked around and now you’re finding out.
PS… if the case goes to trial and Virginia wins, she’ll likely be awarded a lot more than $3-4 million. If the judge rules the way we expect, her case is very strong and she shouldn’t settle for anything less than eight-figures.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
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