Fears grow that Prince Andrew’s sexual abuse accuser could upstage the King’s coronation

Fears are growing that King Charles’ coronation will be overshadowed by Prince Andrew’s sexual abuse allegation following reports that Virginia Giuffre’s memoir could be released just weeks before the historic ceremony.

Multiple reports claim that Ms Giuffre, who accused the Duke of York of sexually abusing her when she was a minor under US law, signed a book deal worth millions.

She and Andrew, who has always denied the allegations, are said to have agreed to a gag clause set to expire in March, a year after they settled their civil rape suit against him.

Publication experts have said Ms Giuffre’s memoirs could be published just weeks before Charles’s coronation, saying Mirror: ‘There will be no greater occasion for your book than the coronation of the king.’

It comes as The Daily Mail reveals that Andrew told his friends that his reputation could soon be restored.

“All eyes will be on the royal family in the weeks leading up to Carlos’s coronation,” the source alleged, noting that “book launches have to do with timing.”

Ms Giuffre’s publisher wants to capitalize on the fact that a global audience will be talking about the May 6 coronation and the royal festivities Andrew will be invited to participate in.

The source added that Ms Giuffre’s memoir, which is said to have taken 12 years to make, may not be able to directly repeat her allegations about the prince, but will still “pour more shame on Andrew, the royals and the day most important thing in his life.” the life of my own brother.

Ms Giuffre’s book deal is said to be worth ‘millions’, multiple sources told the New York Post.

It also comes amid reports that Andrew has amassed a war chest worth up to £10m in preparation for launching a legal challenge to his deal with Ms Giuffre. The deal is reported to be a considerable sum of money, with some estimates being around £12 million.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Andrew has been assuring his friends that there is about to be a development that will restore his tainted reputation.

The Duke of York is regularly voted the least popular member of the royal family and was stripped of his public duties following revelations about his relationship with pedophile Epstein, but his self-confidence remains intact.

If he didn’t return to the heroic status he enjoyed as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands War, at least to what he was before he was photographed in New York’s Central Park talking to Epstein shortly after the latter was released from prison. in 2009 after serving a disconcertingly short sentence for sex crimes.

When out shooting, the Duke of York tends to speak more freely. “He says details are about to be made public, which will change people’s perception of him,” they told Richard Eden. He says it will happen next month.

Although Andrew, 62, would not give any further details, the Mail on Sunday reported over the weekend that he will launch a dramatic bid to overturn the multi-million dollar settlement he reached with the woman who accused him of sexual assault.

Andrew is understood to have consulted lawyers in an attempt to get hold of Virginia Giuffre, formally known as Virginia Roberts. to retract her accusations and possibly get an apology.

He was inspired to act after Ms Giuffre withdrew her lawsuit against another man she accused of sexual assault, admitting she “might have made a mistake” in identifying him.

But Giuffre has always maintained that her case against the duke was valid.

Andrew’s relationship with Epstein was brought up yet again in an explosive interview with Ghislaine Maxwell on TalkTV.

Speaking from prison, Maxwell called Prince Andrew a “dear friend” and said the allegations against him were unfounded.

In her first TV interview since being jailed for child sex trafficking, the British socialite also claimed that the infamous photo of her, Andrew and Ms Giuffre was “fake”.

Andrew is expected to claim that he never met Ms Giuffre and argue that the photo is false in his future legal action.

However, several high-profile forensic experts who have examined the photo, in which Andrew has his arm around a young Giuffre, have said they believe it to be real.

Ms Giuffre alleges that pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Maxwell groomed her and forced her to have sex with him on multiple occasions.

Prince Andrew denied having met Ms Giuffre in a disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019. He claimed he was at a Pizza Express in Woking at the time of one of the incidents mentioned by his accuser.

The late Queen Elizabeth’s son has suffered a series of humiliations since his Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis car accident in November 2019, as institutions have cut ties with him.

The most devastating blow, Eden was told, was the abrupt reduction in his role as colonel in the Grenadier Guards, reported by the Daily Mail just before Christmas.

He had already retired from his duties with the grenadiers, but had done so in the belief that he would, in time, return to them.

He says that His Majesty [Queen Elizabeth] he gave him his word that resigning was only a temporary measure. He says they didn’t tell him beforehand that he was going to be fired, nor, obviously, that Camilla would replace him. He says that he just found out ”in the media”.

Perhaps, then, it is time for Andrew to give his own surprise to the media?