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LONDON—Virginia Roberts Giuffre detailed her alleged sexual abuse at the hands of Prince Andrew in a devastating BBC interview in which she dismissed the “ridiculous excuses” used to try and explain away a photograph that apparently shows the Duke of York with his arm around Giuffre as a young woman.
Giuffre, who claims she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein as a teenager, broke down in tears as she gave a detailed account of the first time she alleges she was made to have sex with the prince.
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“It was a wicked time in my life, it was a really scary time in my life. I had just been abused by a member of the royal family. So when you talk about these chains; yeah, I wasn’t chained to a sink but these powerful people were my chains,” she told the BBC. “I couldn’t comprehend how in the highest levels in the government powerful people were allowing this to happen, not only allowing it to happen but participating in it.”
The Giuffre interview was taped before Prince Andrew’s notorious interrogation on another BBC show, Newsnight, last month. During an interview that was widely condemned as one of the greatest public relations fails of all-time, he said he could not remember ever meeting Giuffre and claimed the photo was unlikely to be genuine because he never went out in London without a suit.
That claim was immediately cast in doubt when photos emerged showing him in similar outfits in the same period.
Panorama said it had discovered that five additional women have demanded that Prince Andrew testify in court as a witness to how young women were giving massages at Epstein’s properties. The BBC reports that subpoenas have been prepared in all five cases, which could result in him being forced to give evidence if he returns to the U.S.
“I think the world is getting sick of these ridiculous excuses,” Giuffre said.
“The people on the inside are going to keep coming up with these ridiculous excuses like the photo was doctored or he came to New York to break up with Jeffrey Epstein, I mean, come on. I'm calling BS on this because that’s what it is,” she told the BBC. “He knows what happened, I know what happened. And there's only one of us telling the truth, and that’s me.”
For years, the Queen’s divorced third child reveled in the nickname “Randy Andy,” but his probity was cast in an entirely different light when it was alleged that his close friend Epstein was a sexual monster who preyed on underage women.
Prince Andrew was known to vacation with Epstein, travel on his private jet—known as the Lolita Express—and stay in his homes in Manhattan, Florida, and the Caribbean.
In return, the prince invited Epstein and his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell into the heart of the royal family to events at Balmoral, Windsor Castle, and Royal Ascot.
The prince has maintained he never noticed anything suspicious going on.
In a 2015 affidavit, Giuffre alleged that she had been kept as a sex slave by Epstein from the age of 17. She accused the millionaire of trafficking her to his high-profile friends, including Prince Andrew and lawyer and Fox News regular Alan Dershowitz.
Epstein, Dershowitz, and Andrew have all denied the allegations.
Dershowitz, who represented Epstein for years, also appeared on Panorama, where he said the financier’s predilections were a total mystery to him. “We never ever saw him, or suspected that he was involved, with teenagers,” he said.
Giuffre told the BBC that it was her work at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Largo that dragged her into Epstein’s net. She said Maxwell had been the one who approached her in 2000 while she was working at the resort, which is now known as the Southern White House.
She claimed Maxwell had offered to train her as a massage therapist, but she said the very first session had ended in her being touched inappropriately by Maxwell and Epstein. “I let them abuse me, I did what they told me to do,” she said.
Within a year, she alleges she was flown to London and forced to have sex with the Duke of York. She said she had been at Maxwell’s London townhouse, where Prince Andrew and Maxwell gossiped about his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. “Ghislane was bad-mouthing Fergie as well,” she said.
She claims they then went to the nightclub Tramp, where Andrew asked her to dance. “He is the most hideous dancer I've ever seen in my life,” she said. “His sweat was like it was raining basically everywhere… I was just like bleurgh grossed out from it.”
When they had left the Tramp nightclub, Giuffre said Maxwell gave her further instructions while Andrew was in another car with royal protection officers. “In the car Ghislaine tells me that I have to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey and that just made me sick.”
“I just didn’t expect it from royalty. I didn't expect it from someone people look up to and admire.”
She said they went back to Maxwell’s home. “There was a bath, it started there and then it led into the bedroom. It didn’t last very long, the whole entire procedure. It was disgusting.”
“He wasn’t mean or anything but he got up and said thanks and walked out. I sat there in bed just horrified and ashamed, felt dirty.”
Giuffre said the next day Maxwell patted her on the back and said, “You made him really happy.”
Maxwell denies procuring women for Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in August while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Panorama said they had unearthed an email from Prince Andrew to Maxwell in January 2015 in which he writes, “Let me know when you can talk. Got some specific questions about Virginia Roberts.” She replies to say that she will call.
A few days later she sent a dossier of alleged inconsistencies in Giuffre’s story but, the BBC reports, she did not mention that Prince Andrew had not been at her house in London that night, nor did she raise doubts about the authenticity of the photograph.
