The Royal Family is under pressure to disclose who is paying for Prince Andrew’s out of court settlement.
Buckingham Palace stressed he was defending himself ‘as a private citizen’, after Virginia Giuffre accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.
But questions still remain over the source of his funding, with the Daily Telegraph claiming he is due to receive help from the Queen.
It has not been publicly revealed how much the Duke of York is paying to Ms Giuffre, but according to the paper, the deal is worth as much as £12million.
Andrew avoided a potentially humiliating civil trial in New York by cutting a deal with Ms Giuffre.
The Duke receives a Royal Navy pension and the Queen is also thought to finance her son from her £21.7-million-a-year Duchy of Lancaster income.
According to The Telegraph, it took 10 days to negotiate the settlement and it was signed off at the weekend. Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
Media lawyer Mark Stephens speculated that the total costs of legal fees, the settlement and the charitable donation could be somewhere around $10million (£7.4million).
He said: ‘Multimillion dollar awards are not uncommon in MeToo kind of cases.’
Other reports put the figure below and above that mark, with the Mirror also reporting it could be as high as £12 million.
David McClure, author of ‘Royal Privilege: The Queen’s True Worth’ said reports of a multi-million dollar settle begs the question ‘does he have the money?’
There had been reports Andrew had been trying to sell a chalet in the Swiss resort of Verbier which he bought for a reported £13million in 2014 with his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York.
Mr McClure added: ‘The very fact he had to sell, it does show he had some money but he didn’t have lots of money.
‘So where does the money come from? I think more than likely the Queen.’
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Graham Smith from the anti-monarchy group Republic said taxpayers ‘deserve to know where the money is coming from for a settlement, which we must assume is in the millions, if not tens of millions’.
He said: ‘So much public money ends up in royal pockets one way or another. Are the British public ultimately paying for Andrew to avoid appearing in court?
‘This scandal has done significant damage to the monarchy, and these questions aren’t going away.’
While it was revealed a settlement had been reached in court documents, a figure has not been made public.
The papers filed with the New York court said Andrew ‘intends to make a substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights’.
While Prince Andrew has agreed a settlement, he has not accepted any guilt and continues to strenuously deny the allegations made against him.
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