American lawyer Teresa Jean-Pierre Coy on Saturday, January 15, expressed the opinion that the deprivation of Prince Andrew of royal patronage is unlikely to affect the course of the trial in the United States.
“I think that depriving Prince Andrew of his titles will not really affect the trial, but it may affect public opinion,” RIA Novosti quoted her as saying.
The lawyer noted that such a move by Buckingham Palace could mean for the jury “lack of support from the monarchy, because they are very concerned about their image, and therefore he will continue to be a participant in the process as a private person.”
Lawyer Abdul Latif Bennett agrees with her. According to him, the deprivation of Prince Andrew’s titles will not affect the legal aspect of the case, and the queen’s son lost “all his brilliance” only “in the court of public opinion.”
“Royals without diplomatic immunity are treated the same as everyone else. And I really don’t know why diplomatic immunity didn’t work here, but now the palace has clearly indicated: it is a private person, ”said Bennett.
As the lawyer emphasized, the decision to deprive the royal patronage will primarily affect the psychological aspects and some formalities.
“It will affect how the case will be called. Removal of the title can hurt him [Эндрю] because the representatives of the prosecution may refer to him as “former Your Highness” and “former colonel”, the prosecution may emphasize the deprivation of his titles, point to him as a “fallen prince,” he specified.
On January 13, the press service of Buckingham Palace announced the deprivation of the Duke of York Andrew of all titles and military ranks. In total, the Duke of York had eight honorary military titles – gifts from the Queen. In addition, Andrew will no longer perform public duties as a member of the royal family and will defend himself in court as a private individual.
Such a statement, the newspaper notes, followed after the New York court refused to satisfy the request of the prince to dismiss the claim of Virginia Giuffre, who accuses the prince of rape.
The Prince Andrew scandal gained momentum in 2019. In addition to the middle son of the Queen of Great Britain, Virginia Giuffre accused American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein of the incident, who was arrested on charges of organizing the sex trade and involving minors in prostitution. Giuffre revealed that the royal was one of Epstein’s parties, calling both molesters.
After the scandal, on August 10, 2019, the arrested Epstein committed suicide in a New York correctional center. In July 2020, it became known that British citizen Ghislaine Maxwell, who was detained in the United States on suspicion of sexual exploitation of minors, could testify against British Prince Andrew and other high-ranking acquaintances of Epstein. Prince Andrew denies any connection with Giuffre.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
