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London police are investigating whether Prince Andrew asked an officer appointed as his bodyguard to smear a sexual assault accuser virginia giuffre,
metropolitan police She said she was “actively looking into” media reports that in 2011 Andrew sought information from an officer on the force to discredit Giuffre to find out if he had any criminal record.
The Mail on Sunday report follows Buckingham Palace’s announcement on Friday that Andrew had agreed to give up the use of Duke of York and other remaining royal titles after emails emerged showing he had been in contact with a convicted sex offender. Jeffrey Epstein For longer than he had previously admitted.
Giuffre’s family welcomed the news of the Duke’s passing but said that King Charles III should move forward and strip Andrew of his title of prince. Giuffre died by suicide in April at the age of 41.
The emails were the last straw for the House of Windsor after years of headlines about Andrew’s shady friends and shady business deals.
Andrew’s move to shield the monarchy from scandals has been ongoing since November 2019, when he quit all his public duties and charity roles following a disastrous interview in which he sought to counter media reports about his friendship with Epstein and denied allegations that he had a sexual relationship with 17-year-old Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein in 2001.
Andrew was widely criticized for failing to show empathy for Epstein’s victims and for offering unbelievable explanations for his friendship with the disgraced financier.
The BBC interview, in which she said she had broken off contact with Epstein in 2010, came back to haunt her and sowed the seeds for her dukedom demotion when emails emerged last week showing she had emailed Epstein on February 28, 2011. Andrew told Epstein in the note that they were “in this together” and that they “have to get over this.”
The Mail reported that in 2011, when the newspaper was about to publish the now-infamous photo of the prince with his arm around Giuffre’s partially bare midriff, Andrew provided Giuffre’s date of birth and confidential Social Security number to her bodyguard to find out whether she had a checkered past.
It is unclear whether the officer complied with the request. Giuffre’s family said he had no criminal record.
With that report and Giuffre’s posthumous memoir published Tuesday, the scandal won’t be going away any time soon.
British Energy Secretary ed milibandwho was serving as the government’s representative on Sunday morning news programmes, said that a police officer should not be included in a smear campaign.
“These are extremely worrying allegations,” Miliband told the BBC. “I think people want to see those allegations and what the facts are behind them. But if that’s true, that’s absolutely not the way that close protection officers should be used.”
In 2022, Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre after she filed a civil suit against him in New York. Although he did not admit wrongdoing, Andrew acknowledged Giuffre’s suffering as a victim of sex trafficking.
In his statement on Friday, Andrew said he “vigorously denies” the allegations.