The Queen suggested Prince Andrew should consider charitable work as a route back to public life after the fallout from his £3m settlement with Virginia Giuffre.
Sources close to the disgraced duke told The Independent that the late monarch suggested the move could provide a path to redemption after stepping back from royal duties.
“Andrew’s mother suggested the route forward was taking on a charitable cause,” a source told The Independent. “Other members of the family agreed and saw it as his only way to rehabilitation.”
The Queen and Prince Andrew at Ascot in 2017 (Getty)
Friends of the duke, who say he is isolated and “on his own” at Royal Lodge in Windsor, are not sure what kind of work Andrew would take on, or if he would even be willing to do the “penance” needed.
The idea was that he might make a return to public life in a fashion similar to the disgraced government minister John Profumo, who took on charity work after public revelations of an affair with a prostitute.
Andrew stopped using his HRH title in January last year after he was accused of sexual assault by Ms Giuffre, a victim of the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
She alleges she was forced to have sex with Andrew aged 17 by the financier and jailed socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. He has vehemently denied these claims.
In February, the prince reached an out-of-court settlement of around £3m with Ms Giuffre, which included a donation to her charity “in support of victims’ rights”. He made no admission of liability.
Andrew has claimed he never met Virginia Giuffre (PA)
It was reported that the late monarch helped the duke pay the multimillion-pound settlement before she died.
Andrew’s team, led by US lawyer Andrew Brettler, is now considering legal options after Ms Giuffre’s sex abuse case against high-profile US lawyer Alan Dershowitz was dropped.
Sources close to Andrew believe he hopes that overturning Ms Giuffre’s claim could let him return to royal duties but US law would require the prince to argue legal reasons for reversing the deal, including mistake or accident.
The Duke of York pictured with Virginia Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell in the much disputed photo (PA)
The Independent revealed that allies of the duke say they are worried he is not coping with the disgrace of the scandal, which saw him unable to wear military uniform during his mother, Elizabeth II’s, funeral procession in September. They fear Andrew is not coming to terms with his new demoted position in the royal family.
Sources further told this news site that Prince Andrew may not have enough money to challenge his settlement with Ms Giuffre and his strategy to clear his name is “high risk”.
“If he launches the bid, he’s looking at racking up more bills that could push him into debt. It’s a question of whether he has the funds to do that,” a source told The Independent.
Prince Andrew with his siblings marching behind The Queen’s funeral cortege last September (Getty)
He added: “The fear is it could be eye-wateringly expensive and leave him in a money pit.
“It’s a high-risk strategy to go from payout to another to seven-figure sum in an entrenched legal battle. The family is worried whether there could be enough money for it.”
Andrew’s new position on his legal settlement with Ms Giuffre comes as Maxwell said she believed the well-known photo showing the duke next to Ms Giuffre was fake.
Maxwell has previously cast doubt on the authenticity of the photo, said to have been taken inside her Mayfair home, showing Andrew with his arm around Ms Giuffre with Maxwell in the background.
