Prince Andrew ‘not surprised’ at accuser Virginia Giuffre’s claims as crash riddle continues

Prince Andrew ‘not surprised’ at accuser Virginia Giuffre’s claims as crash riddle continues

Prince Andrew is “unsurprised” his accuser Virginia Giuffre claimed she nearly died in a bus crash, his friends say.

The saga is said to have caused the Duke of York and his family “sadness” as it has brought back her accusations to the headlines. Ms Giuffre accused the royal of sexually abusing her when she was 17 but Andrew, 65, has always vehemently denied these claims. The duke did, though, pay £12million to the woman in an out-of-court settlement in 2022 following legal action, which left his reputation in tatters.

Since Ms Giuffre’s crash, one of Andrew’s friend told The Daily Beast: “There is no sense of satisfaction on the duke’s part at Giuffre’s disgrace. If anything, it has brought back the sadness the entire family feel that this woman, who he always maintained was a fantasist, was allowed to ruin his life. The whole family are completely unsurprised that her alarmist post turned out to be a fabrication.”

The source referred to mum-of-three Ms Giuffre’s social media post, in which she said she had four days to live following the crash involving a school bus near Perth, Western Australia. The mum, 41, had alleged the vehicle was travelling at 68mph, but this has been questioned by the bus driver himself and parents of some of the children on it. None of the 29 youngsters on the bus were seriously hurt.

Yet Ms Giuffre, a campaigner originally from Sacramento, California, alleged she had suffered kidney failure and posted a photograph online of her badly bruised face, an injury said to have also been caused in the crash. Police, though, confirmed a 41-year-old woman was involved in a minor car accident with a school bus last week.

Ms Giuffre’s family released a statement on Tuesday, saying: “Virginia thanks everyone for the outpouring of love and support. She is overwhelmed with gratitude. Today she remains in serious condition while receiving medical care.”

It jars with the comments from the Duke of York’s friend, who insisted the royal “always maintained [Ms Giuffre] was a fantasist” throughout the legal action. The woman sued Andrew in 2021, claiming she was trafficked and forced to have sex with the duke on three occasions when she was a teen.

And her former lawyer in the US remains close to the campaigner, and keeps links to the press. Brad Edwards, who represented Ms Giuffre, had said at the start of this week: “We’re hoping for better news in the coming days,” adding it was a “very bad situation” and he hoped she “would pull through with good medical care”.

At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.