It appears that the lawyers for both sides have arrived at a settlement that will prevent the case from being litigated in court. Andrew had for the longest time vigorously denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight to clear his name of what he claimed were false allegations against him by Giuffre. You can read the short statement released y Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies here that says in its entirety:

Virginia Giuffre and Prince Andrew have reached an out of court settlement. The parties will file a stipulated dismissal upon Ms. Giuffre’s receipt of the settlement (the sum of which is not being disclosed). Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights. Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks. It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years. Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others. He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.

It is not clear if the financial settlement is only the amount to be donated to the charity or if that is in addition to payments made to Giuffre. You can be pretty sure that it includes her lawyer’s fees though, which could be substantial since prominent lawyers like Boies do not come cheap.

After Andrew and his lawyers had vigorously claimed that he could not even remember meeting her and suggesting that she was merely a gold-digger, to now say that he “never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks” and that he “commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others” is a big reversal.

So why did he suddenly decide to settle? After his attempt to have the case dismissed was rejected by a judge, he was due to undergo a legal deposition in three weeks. Andrew does not strike one as being one of the brightest people in the House of Windsor and given his disastrous performance in a mere BBC interview in 2019, where under extremely polite but persistent questioning he made shaky claims of having an alibi at a pizza place and that he did not sweat, you can imagine that his lawyers were apprehensive about him being subjected to intense questioning under oath by an aggressive lawyer like Boies. Giuffre’s legal team were also seeking to question his former assistant. (The questioning about Giuffre begins at around the 18:30 mark.)

This settlement likely means that the public will never learn all the sordid details of Andrew’s associations with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre’s explosive allegations were that “Andrew sexually assaults her at Maxwell’s home in Belgravia, London and also twice more, at Epstein’s New York home and at an “orgy” on his private island in the Caribbean when she was 17.”

In the court of public opinion, however, this settlement will be seen as an admission of guilt, that he did do at least some of the things that Giuffre alleges and that he just did not want it all to emerge in open court.