Prince Andrew ‘considering option to overturn sex abuse settlement’
'I can tell you with confidence that Andrew's team is now considering legal options.'
Prince Andrew is planning to overturn the multi-million pound settlement with the woman who accused him of rape, it has been reported.
The Duke of York has consulted lawyers in an attempt to get Virginia Roberts to retract her claims and possibly secure an apology.
After being stripped of his ‘His Royal Highness’ moniker and several patronages in 2022 by the late Queen, he has wanted to restore his position in the Royal Family, and this may be the only way.
He was inspired to act after Ms Roberts dropped her lawsuit against another man she accused of sexual assault.
‘He never wanted to settle and has always insisted he was innocent. He wants to see what legal routes might be available to him,’ a source told the Mail on Sunday.
‘This is not about the money. He wants a route back to some sort of normality after a deeply trying period.
‘I can tell you with confidence that Andrew’s team is now considering legal options.’
A source has suggested the King will not oppose any legal action the duke might take to clear his name.
Ms Roberts accused the royal of raping her three times when she was 17, while she was the victim of a trafficking ring orchestrated by his friends, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and former socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
She claims to have been ‘lent out for sexual purposes’ by the late convicted sex offender between 2000 and 2002.
Andrew has always strenuously denied the claims, adding he had ‘no recollection’ of ever meeting the victim.
In his infamous Newsnight interview in 2019, Andrew questioned the authenticity of a photo showing him with his arm around his accuser at Maxwell’s home in London.
The duke settled the sexual assault case for an undisclosed sum in February 2022.
This spared him the humiliation of giving evidence in a trial in the US and saved the royals from further reputational damage.
As part of the out-of-court agreement, he made no admission of guilt over the claims.
Speculation about his planned fightback comes as Maxwell gave her first filmed interview from the Florida prison where she is serving a 20-year sentence for procuring teenage girls for Epstein to abuse.
She said her friend should be ‘uplifted’ by Ms Roberts dropping her case against another man, and suggested it cast new doubt on her claims.
‘Her story frankly has changed multiple times. It’s very hard to know really what’s true or not,’ Maxwell said, adding that the true story ‘has yet to unfold’.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Buckingham Palace for a comment.
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