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

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.

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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Giuffre has already written one unpublished manuscript, entitled The Billionaire’s Playboy Club, which was first made public in a batch of court records related to her lawsuit against Maxwell, which was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”.