Prince Andrew, accused of alleged sexual abuse 0:51
London (CNN) -
There was a time when Prince Andrew had it all: a decorated war hero, a playboy prince, an international ambassador for the British household living a life of privilege.
But those days seem to be behind us.
Instead, the Duke of York, the ninth in line to the British throne, has been sued for alleged sexual abuse.
Federal court documents filed Monday reveal that the lawsuit was brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an alleged victim of disgraced financial and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Giuffre has already said publicly that she was forced to perform sexual acts with Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom.
In 2019, she told the BBC that she was trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with her friends, including the Duke of York, when she was a minor.
Prince Andrew is still involved in promoting British businesses.
Andrés has repeatedly denied Giuffre's allegations.
But his association with Epstein has cast a dark shadow over him.
Under the pressure of public opinion, the prince withdrew from his royal duties following an interview he gave the BBC in 2019 in which it was considered that he had damaged his own credibility.
He rarely appears in public.
When his eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, married last year, she did not appear in any of the four official photographs that were published.
Buckingham Palace has previously denied Giuffre's allegations in a 2019 statement to CNN, saying: "It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false. and without foundation ".
On Tuesday, a representative of the duke's legal team declined to comment.
Buckingham Palace also declined to comment.
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Alex McCready, head of Reputation and Privacy at Vardags, a law firm specializing in handling high-profile client cases, said the prince is not at risk of being extradited because the lawsuit is a civil matter.
"If you do not cooperate, you will face a default judgment, significant damages and an even more deteriorated reputation. Another option, often preferred in these high-profile cases, is an out-of-court settlement," he said.
Gerhard Kemp, a law professor at the University of Derby in the UK, said Giuffre's complaint is unlikely to radically change the duke's situation as it does not appear to include substantial new information beyond what has already been alleged. .
The ongoing criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein's ex-girlfriend, could cause a further headache for the prince, Kemp said.
"What will change the game will be whether the criminal case against Maxwell is going to yield significant evidence implicating the Duke of York, which in turn may alter the nature of US proceedings from the current civil case to a possible case. criminal against the Duke, "he told CNN in an email.
Maxwell is charged with conspiracy and sex trafficking, conspiracy and inciting minors to travel to engage in illegal sexual acts, and transporting minors to engage in criminal sexual activities for allegedly grooming, recruiting and abusing underage girls between 1994 and 1997. She has pleaded not guilty.
US authorities have previously accused Andrés of not cooperating with attempts to interview him as part of the investigation into the alleged sex trafficking ring that Epstein and Maxwell allegedly operated.
Then-New York Southern District Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in January 2020 that Andres had not cooperated with attempts to interview him about Epstein, despite saying he would.
"To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation," Berman said at the time.
Federal prosecutors requested an interview in June 2020 with Prince Andrew as part of their investigation into the alleged sex trafficking ring that Epstein once operated, a source told CNN at the time.
But they can't do much more.
Unless the prince himself becomes the target of a criminal investigation, his options are limited.
"In the absence of a formal US criminal complaint against the Duke of York, my expectation is that we will continue to see the status quo ... requests from the US authorities for the Duke / his legal team to provide voluntary cooperation and the Duke / his legal team will continue to say that they are willing to cooperate, a claim that appears to be somewhat questioned by the US authorities, "Kemp said.
Prince Andrew himself spoke of the allegations in an interview with the BBC in November 2019 that prompted near-universal condemnation in the British press and on social media.
The prince told BBC Newsnight's Emily Maitlis that he had seen nothing that looked suspicious to him when he was around Epstein, who died by suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sexually abusing girls under the age of age and having run a sex trafficking ring.
Epstein had pleaded not guilty.
Virginia Giuffre files lawsuit against Prince Andrew alleging sexual abuse
"Spare heir"
Andrés is the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and brother of Prince Charles.
Originally second in line to the throne, he became number three when Prince William was born, and has slid lower and lower with each royal birth.
He is now ninth in line.
Prince Andrew, left, along with his brothers Carlos and Eduardo, in April 1969.
Being the "replacement heir" is a very difficult role to fulfill.
Throughout his life, Andres has only seen his chances of accessing the throne diminish, but he still faces all the scrutiny and expectations associated with being a member of royalty.
Like other replacements, notably the queen's sister, the late Princess Margaret, and more recently Prince Harry, Andrew was sometimes seen as the "royal party animal."
His colorful past is perhaps best illustrated by the number of nicknames British tabloids have given the prince over the years, from "Randy Andy" (Hot Randy) to "Airmiles Andy" (Andy Miles Traveler).
"When you think of Prince Andrew, you think of three things," said Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal commentator.
"His loyal service in the Falklands, his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who was a catastrophe for royalty, and now of course Epstein's bond as well."
War hero
British tabloids frequently refer to the duke as the queen's favorite son.
This nickname seems to be based on the fact that the queen was able to spend more time with him and his younger brother, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, during their early childhood, compared to her two older sons, Prince Charles and the Princess Anne, who were born just before she ascended to the throne.
Unlike his older brother Carlos, Andrés did not go to college.
Instead, he joined the Royal Navy.
A few years later, he was sailing across the Atlantic on a mission to reclaim the Falkland or Malvinas Islands from Argentina.
He returned as a hero and as one of the nation's favorites.
Enter Sarah Ferguson.
The prince and "Fergie" were among the most popular royals in the late 1980s.
The prince and Ferguson, known as "Fergie", were the last fashionable couple of the late 1980s. Their wedding attracted a television audience of hundreds of millions.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets that day, an event that The New York Times described as "Fergie fever."
The scandalous years
As a commoner, Ferguson was said to bring a breath of fresh air to the royal family.
The honeymoon ended soon.
Andrés and Ferguson separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, after several scandals.
However, the two maintain a close relationship, much to the amusement of British tabloids.
After leaving active military service in 2001, the prince became a "full-time royal", taking on a role as a promoter of British companies.
He became the UK's special representative for international trade and investment, traveling the world selling the British brand.
That career ended abruptly a few months after being photographed with Epstein in Central Park in 2010. At the time, Epstein was a registered sex offender who had served 13 months in prison on charges related to prostitution.
The link with Epstein
Andrés was one of the many high-profile influential men Epstein had associated with.
The prince said he met Epstein in 1999 and "saw him infrequently and probably no more than once or twice a year."
He also admitted to staying at "several of his [Epstein's] residences."
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his New York prison cell in August.
He was awaiting trial on federal charges, accused of sexually abusing underage women.
The prince has always claimed that he never suspected the kind of behavior Epstein was accused of.
But that claim is problematic given that she was associated with Epstein even after her 2008 plea deal, in which she pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges.
This photograph appears to show Prince Andrew with Jeffrey Epstein's accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and in the background, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The 59-year-old prince was named in court documents in New York in August 2019, where it was held that he had touched a young woman on Epstein's Manhattan property.
Previously, he was named in relation to Epstein when Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed that the financier kept her as a teenage sex slave.
The prince insists he never witnessed or suspected the kind of behavior that led to Epstein's arrest, but admitted it was "a mistake and a failure" to have met the disgraced financier in 2010.
The episode is doubly embarrassing for the prince, given the involvement of his daughter, Princess Eugenie, in a charity fighting modern day slavery.
Jeffrey Epstein Royalty
