Virginia Giuffre to pen memoir as Prince Andrew ‘plots to overturn’ £3m settlement

Duke of York reportedly planning to launch a legal challenge against Giuffre

Virginia Giuffre
Giuffre has apparently signed a book deal worth millions
(Image credit: Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre is set to write a memoir, a year after agreeing to a multimillion dollar settlement with the royal in her sex-abuse lawsuit against him.

Giuffre is believed to be working on a memoir detailing her abuse at the hands of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his long-time confidante and “fixer” Ghislaine Maxwell. She has reportedly signed a book deal with an unnamed publisher worth “millions”, said The Telegraph.

Prince Andrew settled a civil case with Giuffre last year, but has denied the accusations and did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The pair are thought to have signed a one-year agreement that means neither could publicly discuss the case – but this clause expires next month.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Sources say it is “unlikely” Giuffre will be allowed to write about her allegations against Prince Andrew or the settlement even after the gag-clause expires, according to the New York Post. Nevertheless, insiders told the paper that any book from Giuffre is likely to be an “embarrassment” for the royal family, particularly after the damaging revelations contained in Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, and because Prince Andrew is set to attend King Charles’s coronation in May.

Giuffre has already written one unpublished manuscript, entitled The Billionaire’s Playboy Club, which was first made public in a batch of court records related to her lawsuit against Maxwell, which was settled in May 2017. In the manuscript, Giuffre details life as a teenager inside Epstein’s sex ring, and describes sexual encounters she claims to have had with Epstein and his associates, including with Prince Andrew. “It wasn’t easy meeting the sexual desires of these strange men, the Prince being one of them,” she wrote.

The publishing deal comes amid reports that Prince Andrew is preparing to launch a bid to overturn the £3m settlement he reached with Giuffre, after her abuse case against Alan Dershowitz, a US lawyer, collapsed. Dropping the lawsuit last year, Guiffre said she “may have made a mistake” in identifying him as one of them men she was forced to have sex with.

The Sun on Sunday reported that the Duke is now consulting US lawyers and “hopes to force a retraction or even an apology – which may clear the way for a return to royal duties”.

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.