Royal Family: Prince Andrew advised to remain silent amid upcoming pre-trial

In what is very likely a strategic move from his defence team, the Duke of York has been advised to remain silent to any requests to comment on the sexual abuse allegations.

Silence as strategy

After the awkwardly questionable interview back in 2019 in which Prince Andrew attempted to refute his involvement with the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, Queen Elizabeth's third child has chosen to refrain from speaking out. The recommendation from his legal team to keep silent comes amid the pre-trial hearing in the civil suit set to take place today in New York City.

The royal has been accused of raping Virginia Giuffre on repeated occasions in both the home of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in New York and on his private Caribbean Island, as well as at the London residence of Ghislaine Maxwell.

'Thousands of articles about this lawsuit have been published'

The hearing is meant to determine whether Giuffre's lawyers have done enough to deliver papers regarding the civil lawsuit to Prince Andrew, as the law firm that represents the Royal claim papers were not properly served. However, Giuffre's attorney, David Boies, has said in court documents that the possibility for Prince Andrew to be unaware of the suit is highly improbable:

Attorneys at Blackfords, who he has apparently instructed to evade and contest service, have confirmed that Prince Andrew himself already has notice of this lawsuit and is evaluating his chances of success.

Adding:

And even if Blackfords had not confirmed as much, any other conclusion would be implausible - reputable media outlets around the world reported on the filing of plaintiff's complaint, and hundreds, if not thousands, of articles about this lawsuit have been published.'