Prince Andrew 'may be asked to give up Duke of York title if he loses Virginia Giuffre lawsuit'

Prince Andrew has denied the allegations made against him.

The Sunday Times has reported palace officials have proposed asking Andrew to put his dukedom “into abeyance” if he loses a case being brought by Virginia Guiffre.

A source familiar with the discussions told the newspaper: “If he loses the case, the question is: what do you do with him? You can’t make him resign like you would a normal person but he would be asked to put his dukedom into abeyance.”

The source added: “Andrew is still patron of a heck of a lot of charities and they would have to go as well.”

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “This is speculation and the comments are without foundation. We would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.”

It comes as a judge in the US denied a motion from lawyers for Prince Andrew to halt proceedings in the civil lawsuit because Virginia Giuffre is “actually domiciled in Australia”.

Ms Giuffre is suing Andrew for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.

But Judge Lewis Kaplan, in a ruling in New York dated December 31, denied Andrew’s lawyers’ request, stating that Ms Giuffre’s legal team has previously received “at least one comprehensive request for documents relating to her domicile, to which responses are due, and have been promised, by January 14”.

The judge added that his ruling was being made “without determining the merit, or lack of merit” of an assertion by Ms Giuffre’s team that Andrew’s lawyers’ motion was “a transparent attempt to delay discovery into his own documents and testimony”.

Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Andrew, and was pictured with the royal and his friend Ghislaine Maxwell during the period the alleged intercourse took place.

Ms Giuffre has alleged in the past she had sex with Andrew in London and New York when she was aged 17, a minor under US law, and again aged 18 on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein where an orgy took place.

Andrew has denied all the allegations.

Oral arguments via a video teleconference on the prince’s request to dismiss the case are scheduled for Monday in the US, the Associated Press reported.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted in the US on Wednesday of helping to entice vulnerable teenagers to the properties of Epstein, her former boyfriend, for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.

She was labelled “dangerous” by the prosecution and faces the rest of her life in jail.

Her friendship with Andrew has seen renewed scrutiny of Ms Giuffre’s civil claim for damages against the duke.

Andrew was photographed, for the first time since Maxwell’s conviction, driving himself in a Range Rover towards Windsor Castle at lunchtime on Friday.

Prince Andrew resigns as Chancellor of Huddersfield University

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you'll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click here to subscribe.