How have I only just realised this about Prince Andrew …

[LilacLemur]

I don’t know if I’m just oblivious to things but how have I only just realised Prince Andrew was 41 when he met Virginia Guiffre.

For some reason I thought this happened in the mid 80’s before he was married and definitely before children.

Knowing how old he was and that he had children just makes it so much more shocking (not that it needed to be).

Was anyone else blind to this?

I've been assuming he was a 'divorced 40-year-old' at the time, but I've never checked that.

He is alleged to have told VG that he had daughters a bit younger than her. I think people do know this op, but I can see why you’ve made the assumption - because the reality is much more horrible than your assumption.

He mentioned his daughter's and having a birthday party at a pizza place for either Beatrice or Eugenie as an alibi during the Maitlis interview,which is the part that helps me orient the timeline, otherwise I'd be confused too..

In the picture of him with Giuffre he does look considerably younger, and still fit, so maybe that's where your confusion arose, though he was divorced at this time.

That is also a bit weird since I assumed he and Fergie still had an undercover sexual relationship as more or less still unofficially married people because they remained so close after their divorce.

Do you know what I found so shocking?

Is that Andrew is the only man named and pilloried (if not convicted). Andrew is a useful fall guy and a drop in the ocean.

Wherw the hell are all the other men? I can guarantee they are they at the highest levels of power and influence, especially in the US.

Yes, Andrew deserves everything that’s happening to him and more.

But while we’re all looking at him, we’re not looking anywhere else. And we should be, if we actually care about the girls like Virginia.

(Sorry, OP, a just crashing yours as the latest Andrew thread this week.)

Good point, but Andrew is a 'spare', not in a powerful position, just a visible one. Others are and well protected, he is dispensable and of little value.

Exactly. An easy mark of little consequence to those hiding in plain site in the US.

Republicans, Democrats, your favourite Hollywood star - they were all there.

Have been thinking the same thing. He is the tip of a deeply unpleasant iceberg

There’s a very good article in The Times today (perhaps by Libby Purves) saying that Andrew could do some good in this situation by effectively being a witness and stating who else was involved and what actually happened. As the columnist points out, he has nothing left to lose but nothing really to gain (unlike, for example Ghislaine Maxwell who is serving a prison sentence) so could, perhaps, be trusted for what he said. Of course, it would involve admitting that much of what he has said to date is a lie.

I agree he’s the fall guy. Didn’t the paedo ringleader keep a little black book of all the other paedos he invited to his island? Wonder where this black book is now.

I also don’t understand why Andrew paid Virginia Giuffre an out of court settlement for her to drop her claims against him while at the same time insisting he’s never met her. How does that work??

Yes exactly @Regularmumm. He says he never met VG and yet handed her £12 million. For alleging something that he assures us he never did.

He didn't pay it. His mum did.

Why did his mum pay it?

Im surprised why some people seem to think it is surprising that men at 40 have sex with younger women. It's very common. The richer the person the more common it is.

At best she wanted to make it go away for her favourite son and believed him to be innocent.

At worst, she knew he had compromised himself and wanted the matter to be put to bed in order to prevent further scrutiny being put to bear and limit the scandal.

I guess there's also a scenario where both were true at the same time.

The issue is a trafficked woman can never consent. Therefore it is rape.

It may be common for wealthy men to sleep with younger women and date them.

It isn't common (one hopes) for men to seek sex with girls barely past the age of consent who have been sex trafficked.
That is what is surprising.

Seriously - this is your take-away from this whole saga?

This isn’t about men at/over 40 ‘having sex’ with younger women.

This is about (rich/influential) men of whatever age fucking girls, underage and/or trafficked, who were coerced into prostitution and/or raped.

Exactly, who are the others?

I've not seen that anyone else was mentioned in the memoire. I hope that's just uk reporting, just interested in Andrew, but that others are named, shamed and can be brought to account.

Exactly. There are a lot of men being protected and in very high positions and probably very famous. Maybe when trump loses his position it will all come out but probably not But it should.

In one of VGs interviews she made lesr that the people involved were "billionaires - the people who rule the planet"

Sadly it is pretty common for powerful men to sleep with trafficked girls. It's also common for ordinary men and for both sets to consume porn produced at the expense of vulnerable women. Andrew is unusual only in that he is suffering consequences.

I read last night in a foreign newspaper that the book named an ex prime minister as having raped her. I won’t mention the name here as it hasn’t been reported in the UK and I guess there are legal reasons for it. It’s not an ex UK prime minister but very high profile person nevertheless.

It's interesting to know that it's not an ex-UK prime minister. I had been wondering.

And now we find out he asked his police protection officer to dig up any dirt, on a woman he cannot remember ever meeting. And he knew her social security number, even though he can't remember meeting her.

He’s no ‘fall guy’ !!!
others are guilty too -
But that doesn’t negate his guilt