British Royal Scandal

The controversy surrounding Prince Andrew's friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has reached a new level, with Virginia Giuffre suing the Duke of York for sexual assault.

The lawsuit was filed under the child victims act and was filed in Manhattan in August 2021, accusing giuffre of being trafficked to Prince Andrew of the British royal family with imperial politics and being sexually assaulted by him when she was 17.

The Restoration of monarchy British royal family has always denied giuffre's allegations and has not commented on the lawsuit.

Andrew's personal links to Epstein came to a head in 2019 when he gave a "disastrous" televised interview on the topic.

Speaking to BBC's Emily Maitlis, Andrew gave bizarre justifications for his association with Epstein and was perceived to show little remorse for the late financier's victims.

Days later, it was announced the duke would be withdrawing from public life "for the foreseeable future". Since then, there has been contention over whether Andrew is cooperating with ongoing investigations into Epstein in the US.

Since Harry and Meghan have been in the spotlight more recently, there has been outcry over the lack of attention paid to the allegations against Andrew.