In February 2022, then-Prince Andrew made an out-of-court settlement to Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre sued Andrew in America, and he spent more than a year briefing the British media about how he was going to attack Virginia in court and really put this whole story to bed. But of course, it never went to trial because Andrew chickened out and settled with Virginia. Back then, the reported sum was around £12 million. We also knew, at the time, that Andrew had “borrowed” the settlement money from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Sources swore up and down that Andrew would be forced to pay back the money… and then all of those threats and claims just disappeared. Well, the Sun has a big exclusive, as you can see. They’re breaking down what really happened:

Shamed Andrew Mountbatten- Windsor was loaned £12million by his parents and brother Charles to pay off sex accuser Virginia Giuffre — and has yet to give any back. The late Queen is said to have stumped up £7million for the 2022 settlement, with another £3million coming from Prince Philip’s estate — a year after his death.

Some £1.5million was paid by the-then Prince Charles with other royals also chipping in to stop Ms Giuffre’s sexual abuse case. A source said: “Andrew’s not paid back a penny.”

Disgraced Andrew’s plan to flog a Swiss ski chalet to repay the millions in Royal Family loans collapsed after he made next to nothing from the sale. Sources had suggested that Andrew would use proceeds from offloading the £19million property to pay back £12million he used to silence Virginia. But he is said to have made little or nothing as the chalet — in posh Swiss resort Verbier — was saddled with heavy mortgage debt.

A source added: “As far as anyone knows he still has not repaid a single penny of the millions he borrowed. The money from the Royal Family bought her silence but denied Virginia her day in court and the chance to openly challenge his account of what happened.”

The Windsors agreed to fund the settlement believing it would help draw a line under the scandal ahead of the Platinum Jubilee in February 2022.

A source told us at the time the Royal Family had decided to “take a little from here and a little from there”.

A source told The Sun: “Andrew lied to his own family about the extent of his relationship with ­Jeffrey Epstein. They bankrolled his pay-off to his accuser Virginia Giuffre. They bought his lies and helped him try and make the problem go away.His own mother, the late Queen, was left heartbroken by the ­scandal. But she could not face banishing Andrew, who was still her beloved son. She knew this was a problem that his brother Charles would tackle once she was gone — it only pushed the scandal down the road. People will be shocked to know so much came from the estate of his father Prince Philip, who had died a year earlier.You can’t imagine that the Duke of Edinburgh ever would have expected that his savings would end up being spent on hush money.”

[From The Sun]

I always wondered about where the money came from, and all this time, I just assumed that QEII simply gave Andrew the settlement money from her Duchy of Lancaster funds, which is the “private” piggy bank of the monarch. What was also widely assumed in 2022: that Charles was regent in all but name, and that he had to sign off on the payment. Little did we know that Charles also contributed to the settlement too, and that they used a chunk of Philip’s estate as well! Why in the world did they split it up like that? Now, I’m not surprised that Andrew hasn’t paid any of the money back. When they stopped talking about it, I think most of us understood that Andrew was never going to pay that money back. In fact, Andrew’s version of events is that he only settled with Virginia because he didn’t want the trial to overshadow his mother’s Jubbly celebrations.

For four years, I’ve been waiting for “royal sources” to draw a line between the Giuffre settlement and another significant story that same month: QEII publicly stating that Camilla should be called “Queen Consort” when Charles became king. That was what Charles got out of Andrew’s debacle – Charles squeezed his mother to sign off on “Queen Consort Camilla” and in exchange, Charles signed off on the settlement.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Backgrid. Cover courtesy of The Sun.