According to the conditions of her settlement with the Duke of York, Virginia Giuffre will be prohibited from speaking publicly about her charges against Prince Andrew until after the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee festivities.
Miss Giuffre, now known as Roberts, claimed she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 on the orders of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
She was allowed permission to sue the 61-year-old king in a New York civil court for undisclosed damages last month. Despite swearing to fight the claims and constantly claiming his innocence, the prince agreed to pay a large fee to settle the case before it went to a jury yesterday.
According to the Times, more details of the agreement have emerged, including rumors that Miss Giuffre will not continue to share her story publicly until later this year, in order to avoid causing further damage to the Royal Family during ceremonies commemorating the monarch’s 70 years on the throne.
According to the newspaper’s sources, there would be a ‘period of silence’ during which all parties must adhere to the requirements of a carefully worded statement.
Miss Giuffre is anticipated to be allowed to publish a book on her life at the end of the year, in addition to the Jubilee celebrations.
‘Normally, both sides would have a complete non-disclosure [agreement],’ lawyer Mitchell Epner told the New York Times.
‘Since it’s a settlement in the context of, on the surface, a Prince Andrew apology,’ [he believes Miss Giuffre] ‘has agreed not to say anything [but] she will be in a position to publish a book, possibly for this Christmas season,’ he continued.
Penny Junor, a royal author, previously stated that the settlement reached will likely be a “great comfort” to the rest of the royal family, but that the damage done to Andrew is irreversible.
‘Going to trial, that might have been very, very terrible,’ she claimed.
It could have been humiliating and embarrassing, and it would have provided plenty of fuel for the tabloid press.
It had the potential to detract from the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year.’
Amber Melville-Brown, a partner at the New York office of the London law firm Withers, added it would be ‘worth its weight in gold to the Queen as she celebrates her Platinum Jubilee’.