Prince Andrew Facing Private Criminal Investigation for Sexual Assault: ‘Justice Must Be Done’

An anti-monarchy group in the U.K. are pushing for Prince Andrew to be investigated for sexual assault, corruption and misconduct in office, they announced in a statement released on Thursday, October 30.

Calling the political response to the scandals surrounding Andrew, 65, “weak, deferential and inadequate,” the press release reads, the Campaign group Republic has taken the “unprecedented step” of asking a private prosecution law firm to investigate the royal.

Under U.K. law, criminal proceedings are permitted to be launched by private firms as well as public prosecutors.

“If not us, then who? It’s a devastating indictment on the UK’s criminal justice system, police and politicians — not to mention the king and heir — that we must resort to a private prosecution,” Republic CEO Graham Smith said in the press release.

“It should be a cause for concern that so many people believe — rightly in my view — that the royals are not treated equally in law,” he continued.

In her posthumously released memoir, Nobody’s Girl, Virginia Giuffre — who was a sex-trafficking victim of late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — said she had sex with Andrew three times when she was a minor.

She filed a civil suit against Andew in 2021. They settled a year later for a reported $15.7 million, according to the Daily Mail.

King Charles III’s brother — who stepped back from royal duties, was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages, and most recently relinquished his royal titles — has insisted he never even met Giuffre.

“I vigorously deny the accusations against me,” he said in a statement on Friday, October 17.

Two days later, London Police confirmed to the BBC that they were investigating allegations that he once asked a personal protection officer to dig up dirt on Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year.

“The truth must prevail and justice must be seen to be done,” Smith said in Republic’s press release.

If Andrew is prosecuted and convicted, royal biographer Andrew Lownie told the Daily Mail, there is a “very good chance” that he could go to prison.