A royal expert has warned that Prince Andrew could lose his HRH (His Royal Highness) title due to the sexual abuse civil lawsuit he is facing in the U.S.
Nigel Cawthorne told Newsweek it was difficult to see how Andrew could return to his role as a working Royal while a sexual abuse lawsuit against him was pending in court.
Noting that the lawsuit could lead to a verdict being passed against the Royal in absentia, Cawthorne, who is the author of Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace, added that Andrew could also lose his HRH status.
“It is very difficult to see how Prince Andrew can return to the frontline of the monarchy while a suit is pending, or with a verdict against him passed in absentia,” the royal watcher said, according to Newsweek.
“There are too many legal questions surrounding the prince and it is increasingly doubtful that he can hold on to his HRH status,” he added.
Virginia Giuffre brought a sexual abuse lawsuit against Prince Andrew
On Monday, Virginia Giuffre, 38, filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in a New York Court under the Child Victims Act.
Giuffre’s lawsuit claims that the late billionaire financier Jerry Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell forced her to perform sex acts with Prince Andrew when she was still an underage person.
She alleged that Andrew sexually abused her when she was only 17 years old.
According to the lawsuit, Giuffre allegedly had sexual relations with the Duke of York on three occasions, at Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion, Ghislaine Maxwell’s London residence, and at Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.
Epstein died by “apparent suicide” in 2019 after he was arrested on charges of sex trafficking of underage girls.
Prince Andrew denied Giuffre’s sexual abuse allegation
Monsters & Critics reported that when Giuffre first publicly accused Andrew of sexual abuse, he denied the allegation.
During an interview with Emily Maitlis on BBC Newsnight in 2019, Andrew said he could not recall meeting Giuffre.
According to Prince Andrew, Giuffre’s story that she observed him “profusely sweating” while they danced at a nightclub couldn’t be true because he had a medical condition that prevented him from sweating.
“There’s a slight problem with the sweating, because I have a peculiar medical condition, which is that I don’t sweat, or I didn’t sweat at the time, and that was—was it—yes, I didn’t sweat at the time,” Andrew said.
Andrew suffered a backlash after the interview
Andrew was widely criticized for his handling of the BBC interview, especially for refusing to apologize or express regret about his past relationship with Epstein.
Following the backlash, he announced he was “stepping back” from his public duties as a Royal because of the distraction that his past relationship with Epstein was causing.