New allegations against Prince Andrew are of “very serious and grave concern” and should be “examined in the appropriate way”, a Buckingham Palace source has said.
The Metropolitan Police is “actively” looking into claims Andrew passed his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his bodyguard in a bid to dig up dirt for a smear campaign.
It comes amid the publication of Ms Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs in which she wrote that Andrew’s team tried to hire “internet trolls to hassle” her.
In her harrowing book, Nobody’s Girl, she recounted her allegations of an orgy with Andrew and paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and “eight other young girls”.
She also told how she dressed like her idols Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera when she claimed to first meet the prince when she was 17 – wearing the outfit in the famous photo which showed a grinning Andrew with his arm around her waist.
The King’s brother relinquished his Duke of York title on Friday amid intensified focus on his links with Epstein, and on Ms Giuffre’s allegations, which Andrew vehemently denies, that she was forced to have sex with the prince three times after being trafficked by Epstein.
A palace source said action was needed because of “what lies at the heart of this, the broader allegations and the issues highlighted”.
They added that the “new allegations that have been brought up” are of “very serious and grave concern” and “should be examined in the appropriate way”.
Pressure is growing on the royal family to go further by backing a move to formally strip Andrew of his dukedom through parliamentary legislation.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the question of legislation was “a matter for the palace in the first instance” and that ministers “support the judgment of the King'” regarding Andrew’s titles.
Andrew paid millions to Ms Giuffre to settle a civil sexual assault case in 2022, despite claiming never to have met her.
She wrote how he hid behind “the well-guarded gates” of Balmoral Castle, making it difficult for her lawyers to serve him with papers.
She also said of her legal settlement: “After casting doubt on my credibility for so long – Prince Andrew’s team had even gone so far as to try to hire internet trolls to hassle me — the Duke of York owed me a meaningful apology as well.”
Ms Giuffre added: “We would never get a confession, of course. That’s what settlements are designed to avoid. But we were trying for the next best thing: a general acknowledgment of what I’d been through.”
