The US authorities still want to speak to Prince Andrew as a witness to Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes. Photo / Getty Images
The US authorities still want to speak to Prince Andrew as a witness to Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes. Photo / Getty Images
We will probably never know exactly how much it took to make the Virginia Giuffre case finally go away.
But a clue to the significant size of the sum was hidden in a comment David Boies, Giuffre's lawyer, made to my colleague Celia Walden in January.
Adamant that it wasn't about the money but "holding Prince Andrew to account", Boies chose his words carefully as he admitted: "If you had a settlement that was large enough to be, in effect, a vindication, then it's something we would obviously look at".
Giuffre had wanted an apology, but the lack of any admission of guilt on the Duke of York's behalf suggests that the 61-year-old's newfound freedom from a jury trial has come at a significant price.
Ms Giuffre had wanted an apology from the Duke of York, which didn't come, but it is safe to assume his freedom come at a significant price. Photo / Getty Images
Whatever the legal bill, which is being partly footed by the Queen, the true cost to the reputation of the ninth in line to the throne remains incalculable.
Many will see this out-of-court settlement as an admission of guilt – even though more than 90 per cent of US civil cases are thought to be resolved ahead of any trial.
Quite what happens to the Duke's role in the ongoing FBI investigation remains to be seen.
It is worth remembering that the US authorities still want to speak to him as a witness to Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes, and US prosecutors appear to have revelled in making a public example of him. This settlement will arguably do nothing to stop that.
Republic, the anti-monarchy campaign group, has also been calling for the Metropolitan Police to investigate Giuffre's allegation that she was forced to have sex with the Duke in London in 2001 when she was 17. His detractors will keep gunning for him, regardless of the outcome of this civil claim.
Despite having never been found guilty in a court of law, there is no doubt that the father of two has been found culpable in the court of public opinion.
His decision to maintain a friendship with Epstein, staying at the billionaire financier's New York home after he was released from prison in 2009 for procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute, ultimately proved to be his undoing.
Andrew's decision to maintain a friendship with Epstein (pictured here with Ghislaine Maxwell), after he was released from prison in 2009, was his undoing. Photo / Getty Images
Hence his statement had no choice but to express "regrets for his association with Epstein" – an improvement on the car crash Newsnight interview in 2019 in which he expressed gratitude for the connections he had made, saying they were "actually very useful".
In insisting that he "never intended to malign Mrs Giuffre's character" and "commending" her "bravery", he has finally shown some of the empathy that has been conspicuous by its absence throughout this sorry saga.
Team York will naturally be hoping for a chance of redemption once the ink dries on the cheque he has handed to Giuffre. Yet despite the offer to make a "substantial donation" to her charity in support of victims' rights, I'm not sure survivors will have much patience with his pledge "to fight against the evils of sex trafficking".
Many see rich and powerful men like him as part of the problem, rather than the solution.
Time is also not on the Duke's side as he attempts to rehabilitate his image. While his mother may allow him to attend the service of thanksgiving for the life of the Duke of Edinburgh, due to take place at Westminster Abbey on March 29, there is little appetite for his presence at the events planned to mark the Platinum Jubilee this summer.
Moreover, while the 95-year-old monarch will continue to support Andrew like any mother would, once his brother Prince Charles takes the throne he is likely to get a lot less sympathy.
After all, Charles and Prince William encouraged the move to sever all the Duke's royal and military ties in January with the clear stipulation that there should be no way back to public duties.
Bar Prince Philip's memorial, I doubt we'll be seeing much of the Duke for the rest of this year – and probably next.
The future may be looking considerably brighter for the royal family now this potentially embarrassing "show" trial no longer threatens to take the shine off the most historic year of the Queen's reign.
Andrew's behaviour, however, has shown that all that glitters is not gold.
Yes, the monarchy will survive this – and arguably be all the better for the Grand Old Duke of York's removal from the royal scene – but it has left a stench that will take months if not years to clear.
And there is virtually no chance that the man who once bragged that his behaviour to Epstein had been "honourable" will ever come out of this smelling of roses.
