Quelle surprise, Prince Andrew has no plans to travel to America to give testimony in the civil case against him, brought by Virginia Giuffre. Judge Kaplan ruled against Andrew last week, saying that Giuffre’s case has merit and he will not dismiss it. Kaplan is already setting up a timeline for depositions and an autumn trial, and there was some question about how Andrew would proceed. Would he participate in his defense? Would he move to settle with Virginia? Or would he simply ignore what was happening in the case and get some kind of judgment in absentia? Well, Page Six’s sources say that Andrew isn’t coming to America, but he will sit for a deposition in the UK.

Embattled Prince Andrew will not travel to New York to give testimony in his sex assault lawsuit, multiple sources have told The Post. The Duke of York — who was stripped of his military titles and HRH styling by his mother, Queen Elizabeth — will instead give a deposition to be transmitted live from London, in the sexual-assault civil suit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. The case does not yet have a court date. Sources said there is no legal reason for Andrew to be in the US.

Previously, a source close to Giuffre told The Post: “It would be very bad for him not to be present, it’s unthinkable…”

Meanwhile, speculation is swirling about what could happen next for the disgraced royal if he loses the lawsuit. Andrew has been busy freeing up his assets, including selling his $23.7 million Swiss chalet, as one royal insider told The Post that inside the palace, officials hope he will settle with Giuffre — seeing it as the “least worst option.”

But he won’t lose his UK home. In 2003, Andrew signed a 75-year lease for his manor, Royal Lodge, at a one-off fee of $1.4 million (£1 million) to the Crown Estate. That’s the equivalent of around $339 (£250) a week in rent. The 30-room home is believed to be worth at least $40 million (£30 million) on the open market. A complex organization, the Crown Estate is essentially a multimillion-dollar property portfolio owned by the Queen as long as she’s on the throne. However, she’s not involved in management decisions.

“Andrew certainly won’t be made homeless,” Joe Little, Majesty magazine managing editor, told The Post. “The lease has been granted.”

[From Page Six]

Page Six also spoke to some royal commentators about whether Andrew would be removed from the line of succession, and whether the Queen would strip him of his ducal title or prince title. Much like the Prince Harry situation, it’s not really up to the Queen with any of those issues. The Queen cannot unilaterally choose to remove a ducal title, a prince title or remove someone from the line of succession. There’s a whole royal/government bureaucracy that comes with those issues, so basically he’s still Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. He’s still going to live at Royal Lodge and mummy is still going to pay all of his bills.

As for Andrew not traveling to America for the deposition… it’s not just about the optics of this particular civil lawsuit. Andrew is refusing to come to America because he doesn’t want to be picked up as a person of interest by the FBI in their on-going investigations and criminal prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. The FBI has made it clear that if Andrew steps foot on American soil, he will (at the very least) be picked up for questioning.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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