[imagesource: Florida Southern District Court]

Prince Andrew is essentially the royal equivalent of the fully grown man who lives in his mother’s basement.

Except instead of a basement, it’s his mother’s castles and sprawling estates, and he’s actually hiding from accusations that he raped Virginia Roberts Giuffre three times when she was 17.

His legal team’s approach to the civil claim filed in New York has changed in recent weeks, with the Duke of York’s US lawyer, Andrew Brettler, arguing that the 2009 settlement Giuffre signed with Jeffrey Epstein releases him from “any and all potential liability”.

With a judge refusing to unseal that document two weeks ago, which could invalidate the damages claim, contingency plans are being made.

The Daily Beast reports that these include challenging testimony from a woman who claims to have seen Prince Andrew in London’s Tramp nightclub with Giuffre:

Andrew memorably claimed in his disastrous Newsnight interview that he couldn’t have been at Tramp on March 10, 2001, because he was at home with his children after attending a pizza party with one of his daughters in the suburban town of Woking.

Andrew appears to be sticking to that story.

Despite a widely circulated photograph of the Duke of York with his arm around a then-17-year-old Virginia Giuffre’s bare midriff, Andrew has repeatedly said he has “no recollection” of ever meeting Giuffre and has vehemently denied having sex with her.

That’s the infamous picture up top. He might have “no recollection” but there’s photographic evidence.

During that same interview with Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis, he said that the clothes he was wearing in the picture weren’t clothes he would wear in London.

Grand, until photos emerged showing him wearing almost the exact same outfit to another London nightclub, Chinawhite, emerged.

Has he been taking tips from the ‘Mercedes Woolies Looter’?

The woman who claims to have seen Prince Andrew with Giuffre on March 10, 2001, is Shukri Walker.

[She] told the FBI that she definitively remembered seeing him, and that the meeting was seared into her memory because she had apologized to Andrew after stepping on his foot while dancing. Walker has now said that she is prepared to give evidence in Giuffre’s civil action…

Walker previously said: “Andrew looked like he was having a great time. He was with this young girl who was close to my own age, perhaps even a bit younger than me… I will never forget the night because I was told this is a real prince.”

…However, a friend of Andrew’s pushed back after the claim surfaced, telling The Daily Beast: “We understand that the FBI have previously declined the testimony of Shukri Walker, who last year offered this same set of ‘recollections’ to national newspapers for a six-figure sum.

That same source said that the fact that there are no paparazzi shots of the royal entering or exiting Tramp from that weekend cast doubt on Walker’s claims.

Despite the evidence against Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II shows no signs of casting her boy aside.

On June 2 next year, the UK will celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with four days of festivities, which will include a medal ceremony.

Those honoured will include frontline workers and emergency service members, such as police, and armed services staff members, who have completed five years of service to the monarchy.

Honours will also be given to royal family members who have served at least one year, and that’s where Prince Andrew comes in.

This via NBC News:

Far more damning for her than awarding the medal would be to leave Andrew off the honors list, because it would almost certainly be seen as making a public statement about him by default.

Even if she thinks he’s guilty, she could still see that as beside the point: Whatever the queen thinks privately about her family members, she will never share those thoughts publicly, either implicitly or explicitly. Denying Andrew this medal would be tantamount to her admitting his guilt.

And despite the attempts by the public and the media to put her family scandals at center stage over her royal duties, the queen never has and never will allow that to happen.

Even if she thinks he is guilty?

Perhaps if she thinks her son is guilty of raping a 17-year-old on multiple occasions, she should encourage him to face the allegations, instead of allowing him to hide out at her properties.

[sources:dailybeast&nbcnews]